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ORIGINAL NARRATIVES 
OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY 

REPRODUCED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE 
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

General Editor, J. FRANKLIN JAMESON, Ph.D., LL.D., Litt.D. 

DIRECTOR OP THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN THE 
CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON 



EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

1634 — 1699 



ORIGINAL NARRATIVES 
OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY 



EARLY NARRATIVES 
OF THE NORTHWEST 

1634—1699 



EDITED BY 



LOUISE PHELPS KELLOGG, Ph.D. 

OF THE RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
OF WISCONSIN 



fVITIf A FACSIMILE AND TIVO MAPS 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
NEW YORK 






COPTMOHT, 1917, BT 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



Printed in the United States of America 



All rights reserved. No part of this booh 
may be reproduced in any form without 
the permission of Charles Scribner's Sons 







CONTENTS 

EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST, 1634-1699 
Edited by Louise Phelps Kellogg 

PASB 

General Introduction 3 

The Journey of Jean Nicolet, by Father Vimont, 1634 [1642] . . 9 

Introduction 11 

Nicolet among the Island Algonquin ...... 15 

His Journey to the Winnebago . . . . . . .16 

The Journey of Raymbault and Jogues to the Sault, by Father 

Lalemant, 1641 17 

Introduction 19 

Their Departure from Huronia ....... 23 

The Mission to Sault Ste. Marie 24 

The Mission to the Nipissing 25 

Radisson's Account of His Third Journey, 1658-1660 [1654-1656?] . 27 

Introduction . 29 

Radisson and Grosseilliers Plan for Westward Exploration . . 34 

The Departure from Three Rivers; Montreal ..... 36 

The Voyage up the Ottawa; the Prisoner 37 

Hardships of the Journey; Lake Nipissing 41 

Georgian Bay .......... 42 

Manitoulin Island 43 

The Potawatomi and the Mascoutin 45 

On Lake Superior ......... 47 

Among the Cree and the Chippewa 50 

Winter Hunting .......... 51 

Visit to the Potawatomi ........ 53 

Argument with the Indians as to the Return Voyage ... 54 

Down the Ottawa River ........ 57 

Encounter with the Iroquois ........ 58 

Summary of Discoveries ........ 61 

Arrival at Montreal and Three Rivers ...... 62 

V 



VI 



CONTENTS 



Adventures of Nicolas Perrot, by La Potherie, 1665-1670 

Introduction 

First Relation of the French and the Western Indians 
Perrot and His Merits ...... 

Mediates between the Potawatomi and the Menominee 

The Juggler; the Potawatomi Returning from Montreal 

The Winter Village of the Fox 

The Quarrels of Frenchmen and Indians . 

The Miami and the Mascoutin 

Honors to Perrot and His Men 

Mutual Fear of Potawatomi and Iroquois 

The Feast before the Journey to Montreal 

Father Allouez's Journey to Lake Superior, 1665-1667 

Introduction 

Departure from Three Rivers 

Barbarous Conduct of the Huron Canoemen 

Lake Nipissing; Lake Huron 

Healing of Those Injured by Explosion . 

The Sault and Lake Superior . 

Keweenaw Bay; Father Menard's Converts 

Chequamegon Bay; Beginnings of the Mission 

General Council of the Ottawa Nations . 

Their False Gods and Superstitious Customs 

The Mission of La Pointe de St. Esprit . 

Sorcerers and Persecutors 

The Mission to the Tobacco Huron 

To the Ottawa 

To the Potawatomi .... 

The Conversion of a Centenarian . 

The Healing of the Sick 

The Mission to the Sauk and the Fox 

To the Illinois ..... 

To the Sioux ..... 

To the Cree ..... 

To the Chippewa and the Nipissing; Journey to Lake Nipigon 

Father Allouez's Wisconsin Journey, 1669-1670 

Introduction 

From the Sault into Lake Huron . 

Into Lake Michigan ..... 

Into Green Bay ...... 

The Mission to the Sauk and the Potawatomi 

To the Fox 

Their Character and Customs 



CONTENTS 



vu 



The Mission to the Miami and the Mascoutin 
To the Menominee and the Winnebago . 
Condition of the Christian Indians 
Fathers Druillettes and Andre 



PAoa 
165 
158 
159 
160 



The Journey of Dolliee aot) Galinee, by Galinee, 1669-1670 

Introduction 

Abbe de Queylus Commits a Western Mission to DoUier 
Projects of M. de La Salle ..... 

Galinee departs with DoUier and La Salle 

Canoe Navigation ...... 

Shelter and Food ....... 

Discovery of Lake Ontario ..... 

Among the Seneca ...... 

Negotiations to Obtain a Western Slave . 

Torture of a Prisoner ...... 

Discouragements from the Journey 

Niagara River and Falls ..... 

The End of Lake Ontario; La Salle and the Rattlesnakes 
Arrival at Tinawatawa; Adventvu"es of JoUiet . 
Reasons for Separating from La Salle 
Mass before Separation; Departure from Tinawatawa 
Arrival at Lake Erie ...... 

Game and Fruits and Vines ..... 

The Winter Encampment ..... 

The March Resumed in the Spring 

Reunion of the Party; Search for the Missing Canoe 

Loss of the Baggage and Altar Service . 

Entrance into Lakes St. Clair and Hiu"on 

Arrival at the Sault; the Mission There 

Fishing and Furs at the Sault; the Ottawa River Route 

The Return to Montreal; Galin6e's Map 



The Pageant of 1671 

Introduction .... 
Talon's Plans; the Sieur de St. Lusson 
The Pageant at the Sault 



The Mississippi Voyage of Jolliet and Marquette, 1673 

Introduction 

Frontenac and Talon Send out Jolliet and Marquette 
Their Departm-e from St. Ignace .... 

The Menominee; Wild Rice ..... 

Green Bay; the Tides ...... 

The Mascoutin and Their Village .... 



161 

163 
167 
168 
170 
172 
173 
175 
177 
179 
183 
186 
188 
189 
191 
192 
194 
195 
196 
197 
198 
201 
203 
204 
205 
207 
208 

211 

213 
217 
218 

221 

223 
227 
229 
230 
232 
233 



VUl 



CONTENTS 



Embarkation on the Wisconsin River 
Entrance into the Mississippi 

The Buffalo 

A Village of the Illinois .... 

Reception and Feast at the Chief's Village 
Character, Habits, and Customs of the Illinois . 
The Calumet and Calumet Dance . 
Descent of the Mississippi; the Painted Monsters 

The Missouri 

The Ohio . . . • 

The Chickasaw Country; the Michigamea 

The Village of the Quapaw .... 

The Resolve to Return .... 

Ascent of the Mississippi; Kaskaskia; Green Bay 

Makquette's Last Voyage, 1674-1675 



Fran? 



Introduction 

Marquette's Journal .... 

Marquette Receives His Orders; Sets out from St. 

Among the Mascoutin of Milwaukee River 

Winter Quarters at Chicago 

Departure in the Spring 

Dablon's Narrative . 

The Journey to Chicago 

To the Illinois Mission . 

The Father's Last Illness 

His Death . 

What Occurred at the Removal of His Bones 

His Virtues; His Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Immaculate 



235 
236 
237 
239 
240 
243 
245 
248 
249 
250 
252 
254 
256 
257 

259 

261 
262 
262 
264 
265 
268 
269 
270 
271 
272 
274 
276 
278 



Memoir on La Salle's Discoveries, by Tonty, 1678-1690 [1693] 



Introduction 

La Salle and Tonty Sail to Quebec 

To Detroit, Mackinac, and the Sault 

Lake Michigan ...... 

The Portage to the Illinois River; Fort Crfevecoeur 
Conflict with the Iroquois .... 

Parleyings with Them ..... 

Murder of Father La Ribourde; Shipwreck of Tonty 
Winter among the Potawatomi; with La Salle to Frontenac; to Chi' 
cago ..... 

Descent of the Mississippi 

Among the Taensa 

Among the Natchez and the Choctaw 

The Mouths of the Mississippi 



281 

283 
286 
287 
288 
289 
291 
293 
294 

296 
297 
299 
301 
302 



CONTENTS ix 

PAGB 

The Return to Mackinac 304 

Fort St. Louis of the Illinois; Repulse of the Iroquois . . , 305 

La Salle's Privileges Confirmed; Reorganization .... 306 

Descent of the Mississippi; Exploration in the Gulf .... 307 

Return to the Illinois and Detroit ....... 308 

The Ambuscade of the Seneca ....... 310 

News of the Death of La Salle ....... 311 

Expedition to Rescue His Men 313 

Their Fate 316 

The Murder of La Salle 317 

Return from the Cadadoquis ........ 320 

Memoir of Duluth on the Sioux Country, 1678-1682 . . . 323 

Introduction 325 

Plans for the Exploration ........ 329 

Reconciliation of Sioux and Assiniboin ...... 330 

Exploration by Water; Rescue of Father Hennepin .... 331 

The Vermillion Sea; Return and Defense of Duluth . . . 333 

The Voyage of St. Cosme, 1698-1699 335 

Introduction 337 

The Seminarists Leave Mackinac; Aid of Tonty .... 342 

On Lake Michigan ......... 343 

Welcome by the Jesuits at the Chicago Mission .... 346 

Descent of the Illinois River ....... 348 

The Jesuit Mission of the Illinois ....... 350 

Further Descent of the River . . . . . . .351 

Entrance into the Mississippi ....... 354 

TheTamarois 355 

The Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Arkansas ..... 357 

Christmas on the Mississippi ....... 358 

The Arkansas Tribesmen ........ 359 

Index 363 



MAPS AND FACSIMILE REPRODUCTION 

FAGB 

A Page of the Manuscript of Radisson's Journal. From the original 

in the Bodleian Library, Oxford 34 

Contemporary Map made to Illustrate Marquette's Discoveries. 

From the original in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris . . . 228 

A Portion of Franquelin's Great Map op 1688 (Dep6t des Cartes, 

Paris). From a copy in the Library of Congress .... 342 



NOTE 

The first of the illustrations in this volume is a facsimile of a 
page of the manuscript of Radisson's journal, photographed from 
the original in the Bodleian Library at Oxford (Rawlinson, A. 329). 
The photograph used is in the possession of the State Historical 
Society of Wisconsin, which has kindly lent it for the purposes of 
the present reproduction. 

We are also indebted to the same society, and to its superinten- 
dent, Dr. M. M. Quaife, for the opportunity to reproduce the second 
of our illustrations, a map in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, 
bearing the title " Carte de la nouvelle decouverte que les RR. Peres 
Jesuistes ont fait en I'annee 1672, et continu^e par le R. Pere Jacques 
Marquette de la mesme Compagnie, accompagne de quelques Fran- 
9ois en I'annee 1673, qu'on pourra nommer la Manitoumie, a cause 
de la Statue qui s'est trouvee dans une belle valine, et que les Sau- 
vages vont reconnoistre pour leur Divinite, quils appellent Manitou, 
qui signifie Esprit, ou Genie." The original, a map measuring 73 
by 44 centimetres, is preserved in vol. C, 17701, in the library 
named, and is no. 7 in Gabriel Marcel's Cartographie de la Nouvelle 
France, closely resembling no. 202 in Henry Harrisse's Notes sur la 
Nouvelle France. It has been reproduced, as no. 30, in Marcel's 
Reproductions de Cartes et de Globes relaiifs a la Dicouverte de VAmi- 
rique, atlas (Paris, 1893), and is discussed on pp. 106-108 of the vol- 
ume of letter-press accompanying that atlas. It was evidently 
drawn from the description of Marquette's Mississippi River voy- 
age, and was the prototype of the map published in Melchisedec 
Thevenot's Recueil de Voyages (Paris, 1681), a map reproduced in 
the late Dr. R. G. Thwaites's Jesuit Relations, vol. LIX., but con- 
tains additional data. 

As to the name Manitoumie (which to be sure never adhered to 
the region), one who looks at the legend of the map in our facsimile, 
or in the original photograph, even with a magnifying glass, may 
easily think that the word has not precisely the form Manitoumie, 
but comparison with the duplicate will probably convince him that 
though the word in our map seems to end with the two letters 



xiv NOTE 

"-me," yet above and between them an "i" has been subsequently 
inserted by way of correction. 

The third illustration represents a portion of Franquelin's great 
map of 1688, a manuscript map in the Ubrary of the Dep6t des 
Cartes et Plans, in Paris, one of the libraries of the Ministry of the 
Marine. It is designated as 4040® (no. 227 in M. de la Ronciere's 
Catalogue General of the collection), 6 bis, and bears the title "Carte 
de I'Amerique septentrionnale depuis le 25 : jusqu'au 65* deg. de latt. 
et environ 140: et 235 deg. de longitude, contenant les pays de Ca- 
nada ou Nouvelle France, la Louisiane, la Florida, Virginia, N"* Suede, 
N^® Yore, N''* Angleterre, Acadie, Isle de Terre-neuve, etc.; Le Tout, 
tres fidellement dresse, conformement aux observations que I'Auteur 
a faites luy mesme pendant plus de 16 annees, par Tordre des Gou- 
verneurs et Intendans du Pays. ... En I'Annee 1688: Par Jean Bap- 
tiste Louis Franquelin, Hydrographe du Roy a Quebec en Canada." 

Jean Baptiste Louis Franquelin, b. 1653, was employed by the 
French government in Canada in the making of several important 
maps. His large "Carte de la Louisiane" of 1684 is reproduced in 
Thwaites's Jesuit Relations, vol. LXIII. Of another large map by 
him, "Carte de I'Amerique Septentrionale," etc., of date about 1687, 
the essential portion is reproduced in A. L. Pinart's Recueil de Cartes 
(Paris, 1893), no. 12. The map of 1688 represents a more advanced 
state of geographical knowledge, but no complete reproduction of it 
has been published. A rough facsimile of a portion of it appeared 
in the fourth edition of E. D. Neill's History of Minnesota (1882), 
and in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, IV. 230- 
231. The original measures 160 by 105 centimetres. A manuscript 
copy in the same dimensions, beautifully executed, is in the Map 
Division of the Library of Congress. Our reproduction is from a 
photograph of this, and embraces an area of the original measuring 
about 29 X 22 inches, reduced about one-half in each dimension. 
Acknowledgments are made to Mr. P. Lee Phillips, chief of the 
Map Division, for the opportunity to photograph. Careful study 
of the map will show how it reflects the results of the explorations 
made by La Salle, Perrot, and perhaps Tonty and others. Since its 
reproduction for this volume, a full-size photograph of the original 
has been acquired by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 
another is in the possession of the Michigan Historical Commission. 

J. F. J. 



EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE 
NORTHWEST, 1634-1699 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 

In the seventeenth century the term Northwest was used 
to designate the region of the upper Great Lakes and the 
northeastern part of the Mississippi Valley. It was ordi- 
narily spoken of by the colonists of the St. Lawrence as le 
pays d'en haul — the Upper Country. The discovery and 
exploration of the Upper Country was accomplished by the 
French, who had appropriated the St. Lawrence Valley as 
their sphere of influence, and by the seventeenth century had 
begun to people it. In the first half of the century the Great 
Lakes were discovered; the exploration of the Mississippi 
Valley was the work of the second half-century. 

The fitness of the French for this especial task has often 
been recoimted. Gifted with imperial imaginations, with 
visions of future greatness, imdaunted by obstacles, undis- 
mayed by hardships, the founders of New France planned to 
add to that colony an empire in the vast hinterland beyond 
the sources of their own great river, a region that is now fitly 
designated as the heart of America. The numerous tribes of 
aborigines dwelling in this wilderness they speedily learned 
to conciliate and exploit. The laborers for the expeditions 
were recruited from the Canadian colonists, who readily de- 
veloped a woodcraft that rivalled that of the natives, pad- 
dling canoes and portaging burdens with a good humor and 
adaptation to emergencies that made them useful members 
of exploring parties. Trained to habits of obedience to 
superiors, they responded with alacrity and pleasure to the 
demands of wilderness faring. 

The leaders of these expeditions were from two walks of 

life, military officers of the colonial troops and missionaries 

3 



4 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

of the Church; both of these professions were recruited chiefly 
from the lesser nobiUty and higher bourgeois class of France. 
Officers and missionaries vied with one another in devotion 
to their duties and in ardor for the service of the Crown. 
Thus, for the discovery and exploration of the Northwest, 
France enlisted religious enthusiasm, military zeal, pioneering 
adventure, and far-sighted patriotism, embodied in mission- 
ary, soldier, voyageur, and builder of empire. 

The founder and forerunner of the great French line of 
discoverers and explorers was Samuel de Champlain. It 
was Champlain who chose the site for the capital of the 
colony on the rock of Quebec, who ascended the St. Lawrence 
and the Richelieu to the lake that still perpetuates his name. 
Moreover, Champlain was the discoverer of the Great Lakes, 
and had planted the flag of France on the shore of Lake 
Huron, before the English had landed on the coast of New 
England or appropriated its narrow, rocky shores. 

Champlain was not only himself an explorer, but he care- 
fully provided for the continuance of the work by sending 
promising youths to live in Indian villages, there to learn 
woodcraft and the native languages, and thence to accompany 
their Indian friends upon remote voyages for trade or war. 
Jean Nicolet, one of Champlain's chosen interpreters, as 
early as 1634 carried his discovery beyond the shores of Lake 
Huron, through the straits of Mackinac, out upon Lake 
Michigan, down its western arm. Green Bay, and landed on 
the farther margin of the valley of St. Lawrence in the present 
State of Wisconsin. With the narrative of Nicolet's voyage 
our volume begins. 

Meanwhile in the heart of the Ontarian forests, at the 
foot of Georgian Bay, the Jesuits had begun a flourishing 
mission for the Huron tribesmen; from this as a base, in 1643, 
a missionary exploring party went with some Indian visitors 
to the strait where the waters leap down from Lake Superior. 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 5 

This they christened the Sault de Ste. Marie, and on its 
shores Fathers Raymbault and Jogues preached to a mingled 
throng of the tribesmen of the upper lakes, and looked for- 
ward with longing vision to the time when they should all be 
sheltered within the fold of the Church. At the Sault they 
saw the entrance to the greatest of the Great Lakes, and 
thus before the seventeenth century was half-way on its course 
Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior were placed upon the 
map of North America. When in 1669-1670 the Sulpician 
missionaries, Galinee and Dollier de Casson, seeking new fields 
for converts, skirted the shores of Lake Ontario, wintered 
almost within sound of the Falls of Niagara, and the following 
spring navigated Lake Erie, the straits of Detroit and St. 
Clair, and crossing Lake Huron arrived at Sault Ste. Marie, 
the circuit of the Great Lakes was completed and the sources 
of the St. Lawrence revealed to the world. 

The interior wilderness was more diflficult to penetrate 
than these great bodies of water; the records of its discovery 
are less circumstantial. Some time between 1650 and 1660 
two daring voyageurs, known to us as Radisson and Gros- 
seilliers, accompanied a trading fleet of Indians to the Upper 
Country and spent several years upon the shores of Green 
Bay and Lake Superior, wandering far through inland forests, 
mingling with various tribesmen, trafficking for their rich 
stores of furs, and learning the woodland routes. Since, 
however, the journals of their travels were not made known 
until the nineteenth century, the impress of their discoveries 
on the progress of geographical knowledge in their own time 
was sUght. 

The Indians of the Upper Country had for some time 
known the value of the white men's goods and had sent an- 
nual trading fleets to Montreal and Three Rivers to secure 
the coveted ammunition, blankets, kettles, and trinkets, when 
in 1665 Nicolas Perrot conceived the plan of carrying goods 



6 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

into the Indian country, and of securing alliances with the 
tribesmen who were thickly clustered around the western 
end of Green Bay and its wooded streams. Perrot spent five 
years among the tribes in this vicinity, becoming the best- 
informed and most noted trader and interpreter of his time. 
To this same region in 1669 came Father Claude Allouez, who 
had previously opened a mission on Chequamegon Bay, and 
had skirted both the southern and the northern shores of 
Lake Superior and traced its coast-line for the remarkable 
map of that lake that was published in 1670. Father Allouez 
in the years succeeding his first visit to Green Bay opened 
missions at many of the villages on the eastward-flowing 
streams, and in his travels explored the waterways that inter- 
lace the Fox River route and lead to the waters of the Mis- 
sissippi. But as yet no Frenchman, if we except the untracked 
journeys of Radisson and GrosseiUiers and the last tragic 
voyage of Father Menard who is thought to have perished on 
the head streams of the Wisconsin, had ventured over the 
easy divide that separates the valley of the great river from 
that of the Great I^akes. 

Meanwhile, the governor of New France, exulting in the 
discoveries already accomplished and anticipating those yet 
to be made, in 1671 sent his envoy, Sieur Daumont de St. 
Lusson, to plant upon the straits of Ste. Marie the arms and 
emblems of the French monarch, and before a wondering 
crowd of awed aborigines to proclaim in solemn conclave the 
sovereignty of France over the whole American Northwest. 

It yet remained to discover the Mississippi. By the time 
of St. Lusson's pageant the existence of a great interior river 
had become an open secret to the missionaries and officers 
of the West. Only government initiative was needed to set 
on foot an expedition for the purpose of this discovery. The 
honor of conducting such an expedition was accorded by the 
governor to Louis Jolliet, a native-born Canadian, who had 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 7 

had singular success in striking new paths through the wilder- 
ness. At the St. Ignace mission on the straits of Mackinac 
JoUiet secured for his proposed journey the companionship of 
Father Jacques Marquette, who had already spent three 
years at the missions of the upper lakes. After many con- 
sultations the route via Green Bay and Fox River was chosen, 
and at the present site of Portage, Wisconsin, the divide be- 
tween the two great drainage systems was easily crossed. 
In the lovely, early summer days of our Western woods the 
canoe floated gently down the Wisconsin River to its union 
with the Father of Waters, which was entered the 17th of 
June, 1673. Thence the two explorers continued down the 
Mississippi to the mouth of the Arkansas, finding neither 
falls nor rapids to obstruct or endanger their progress. On 
the return journey another portage route, by way of the Il- 
linois, Des Plaines, and Chicago rivers, was followed. Thus 
the easy approach to the great central valley of North Amer- 
ica was definitely established, and its exploration and ex- 
ploitation intrusted to the leaders of New France. 

Among these leaders were two remarkable explorers and 
colonizers, Robert Cavelier de La Salle and Daniel Greysolon 
Duluth. Both had imperial ambitions, both sought to se- 
cure the Mississippi Valley for France and make it the seat 
of a noble civilization. La SaUe chose for his sphere of opera- 
tions the genial prairies of the Illinois. Duluth discovered 
the portage routes from Lake Superior to the sources of the 
Mississippi and planned his establishment for the head- 
waters of the great river among the powerful tribe of the Sioux. 
His plans were frustrated by the policy of the Canadian gov- 
ernors, who summoned him to the St. Lawrence before his 
task was well begun. La Salle perished at the hands of an 
assassin, while striving to colonize the Mississippi's mouth. 

Henri de Tonty, lieutenant of La Salle, cousin of Duluth, 
held together for some years after the former's death the 



8 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

remnants of French occupation in the valley. Around his 
Fort St. Louis on the Illinois he gathered a small settlement 
of Frenchmen, and a large concourse of friendly Indians. 
Many times he made the arduous journey from the St. Law- 
rence to his inland home, transporting supphes, escorting 
settlers and missionaries. Vainly he sought at the Missis- 
sippi's mouth for the lost colonists of La Salle. In the valley 
of the Arkansas Tonty established the oldest colony in the 
lower valley, and thither at the very close of the century he 
escorted the seminary missionaries St. Cosme and Montigny. 
The narrative of their journey from Michilimackinac to the 
Arkansas post forms the closing number of our volume. 

The latter years of Tonty's life were given to assisting in 
founding the colony of Louisiana at the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi, thus continuing La Salle's plan of interior occupation, 
and completing the arch of French control in North America. 
With one end resting upon the St. Lawrence at Quebec and 
the other planted on the Mississippi at New Orleans, with 
the keystones at the Wisconsin and Chicago portages. New 
France rivalled in extent and promise any colony of any 
European power in any part of the world. The crumbHng 
of this arch of empire is the story of the eighteenth century. 

It is our opportunity here to present the narratives of the 
discoverers, explorers, and founders of the French empire in 
North America — narratives full of the charm of brave deeds, 
of heroic endurance, of abiding enthusiasms, and of famous 
achievements. With the exception of Radisson's journal, all 
were originally written in French; the editors hope that the 
flavor, as well as the accuracy, of the originals has been pre- 
served for our English readers. 



THE JOURNEY OF JEAN NICOLET, BY FATHER 
VIMONT, 1634 [1642] 



INTRODUCTION 

That the French explored the heart of the North American 
continent while the English occupied only the Atlantic coast 
plain during the seventeenth century was chiefly due to the 
lure of the St. Lawrence River. The year after Champlain 
had founded his colony at the site of Quebec (1608) he had 
followed the great river to the Richelieu and, ascending that, 
had discovered the lake that bears his name. By 1615 he 
had penetrated to Lake Huron, explored its eastern border, 
and heard of the great fresh-water seas beyond, whose coasts 
he was not destined to see, but whose discovery was due to 
the zeal for exploration that he inspired. Choosing adven- 
turous and promising youths, he sent them into the Indian 
villages to acquire the native languages, and the skill in wood- 
craft and voyaging that helped to plant the lihes of France 
on the farther margin of the Great Lakes. Such a disciple 
and agent of Champlain was Jean Nicolet. 

Bom in the Norman port of Cherbourg, Nicolet arrived 
in New France in the sunamer of 1618, and immediately began 
his novitiate among the Algonkin Indians on the upper 
Ottawa. His career of adventure was interrupted by the 
English capture of the St. Lawrence colony in 1629, where- 
upon Nicolet retired farther into the continent among the 
Huron Indians and returned to Quebec only after the Treaty 
of St. Germain (1632) had brought back Champlain as gov- 
ernor of the restored French dependency. Flushed with 
triumph at his return, Champlain planned to enlarge the 
domain of his beloved France and arranged for Nicolet to 
penetrate to the remotest peoples of whom rumor had reached 

Quebec. Thus, fourteen years after the Pilgrim fathers 

11 



12 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHW^EST 

landed on the Massachusetts coast, a French discoverer had 
advanced (1634) a thousand miles west, passed the straits of 
Mackinac, sldrted the shores of Green Bay, and made his 
landfall in the present State of Wisconsin. 

Both Champlain and his envoy supposed that the "People 
of the Sea," whom they sought, were dwellers in Asia, or on 
the shores of the western ocean; hence the provision of the 
damask robe, and the disappointment at finding savages 
instead of Moguls, fresh-water lakes instead of southern seas. 
During his thirteen months of absence from Quebec Nicolet 
may have wandered farther than we know. The Jesuit 
letter of 1640 says: "Sieur Nicolet, who has advanced farthest 
into these so distant countries, has assm-ed me that if he had 
sailed three days' journey farther upon a great river which 
issues from this lake he would have found the sea." Does 
this imply the discovery of the Mississippi? We think it 
probable that the "great river which issues from this lake 
[Michigan] " was the Fox, whence in three days he might have 
reached a westward-flowing stream that would ultimately lead 
to the sea. This was his interpretation of the information 
from the Winnebago, whose language he but imperfectly under- 
stood. After a winter's sojourn among them, he returned to 
Quebec and reported the discoveries he had made. 

This was his last westward journey. Settling at Three 
Rivers, he founded a Canadian family, among whose de- 
scendants were those who carried the flag of New France far 
out upon the plains of the Saskatchewan, though they never 
saw the western ocean. In going to Quebec in 1642 on an 
errand of mercy for an Indian captive, Nicolet's boat was 
capsized by a treacherous breeze, and he was lost in the stormy 
waters. His eulogist says: "This was not the first time that 
this man had exposed himself to death for the salvation and 
weal of the Savages." 

We owe our knowledge of Nicolet's explorations to the 



INTRODUCTION 13 

series of reports of missionary operations in North America 
under the auspices of the Jesuit order, that are known as the 
Jesuit Relations. After the return of the French to the shores 
of the St. Lawrence in 1632 all missionary enterprises in 
Canada were placed under the control of the Society of Jesus. 
Each year Jesuit missionaries wrote from their remote stations 
throughout the continent reports of their work, which were 
arranged by the superior into a continuous narrative and 
pubHshed at Paris in an annual volume. These small yearly 
volumes issued by the Parisian house of Sebastien Cramoisy 
were eagerly read by the pious supporters of French missions 
and had a wide circulation. In 1673 their issue was stopped, 
and later these Relations became exceedingly rare, accessible 
only in the collections of bibliophiles or in the larger Hbraries. 
Their importance for the study of Canadian history caused 
the Canadian Government in 1858 to issue a reprint of the 
entire series. No complete English edition, however, ap- 
peared until 1896, when under the editorial supervision of 
Dr. Reuben G. Thwaites the Jesuit Relations and Allied 
Documents, 1610-1791, began to be published by Burrows 
Brothers, of Cleveland, Ohio. The series was completed in 
1903 and comprises seventy-three volumes. These are bi- 
lingual in form, the French (sometimes Latin) text appearing 
on the left-hand page, the English translation on the right. 
Besides a reprint of the original Jesuit Relations, this series 
contains much hitherto unpublished material from original 
manuscripts of Jesuit missionaries. Full bibHographical in- 
dications and illustrative material add to the value of the 
edition. 

As a result of the reawakened interest in the Jesuit Rela- 
tions during the latter half of the nineteenth century, the name 
of Jean Nicolet began to appear in our histories. John Gil- 
mary Shea, in his History of the Discovery of the Mississippi 
(1853), cited a passage from the Relation of 1642 describing 



14 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

Nicolet's voyage. The following year, in an article on "In- 
dian Tribes in Wisconsin/' appearing in Wisconsin Historical 
Collections, III. 125-129, Shea again called attention to Nico- 
let's remarkable voyage, placing it in the year 1639. This 
date was adopted by historians until 1876, when Benjamin 
Suite, a careful student of Canadian origins, proved from 
church registers and other contemporary documents that 
Nicolet visited Wisconsin in 1634. Suite's article was pub- 
lished in Wisconsin Historical Collections, VIII. 188-194, and 
his conclusions regarding the date are generally accepted. 
Two other articles resulting from investigations into Nicolet's 
life and antecedents appeared in volume XI. of the same 
series, pp. 1-25. Consul W. Butterfield, in his History of the 
Discovery of the Northwest hy Jean Nicolet in 1634 (Cincin- 
nati, 1881), embodied the results of careful study of all the 
known data on Nicolet's career. 

The Jesuit Relations make several references to Nicolet's 
explorations. The selection we publish is from the Relation 
of 1642, which was written by Father Vimont, a personal 
friend and admirer of the great explorer. It is found in the 
Thwaites edition in volume XXIII., pp. 275-279. 



THE JOURNEY OF JEAN NICOLET, 1634 

I WILL now speak of the life and death of Monsieur Nicol- 
let, interpreter and agent for the Gentlemen of the Company 
of New France. He died ten days after the Father,^ and had 
lived in this region twenty-five years. What I shall say of 
him will aid to a better understanding of the country. He 
came to New France in the year 1618 ; and forasmuch as his 
nature and excellent memory inspired good hopes of him, he 
was sent to winter with the Island Algonquins, in order to 
learn their language.^ He tarried with them two years, 
alone of the French, and always joined the barbarians in their 
excursions and journeys, undergoing such fatigues as none 
but eyewitnesses can conceive; he often passed seven or 
eight days without food, and once, full seven weeks with no 
other nourishment than a little bark from the trees. He 
accompanied four hundred Algonquins, who went during that 
time to make peace with the Hyroquois,' which he success- 
fully accomplished; and would to God that it had never 
been broken, for then we should not now be suffering the 
calamities which move us to groans, and which must be an 
extraordinary impediment in the way of converting these 
tribes. After this treaty of peace, he went to live eight or 
nine years with the Algonquin Nipissiriniens,^ where he 
passed for one of that nation, taking part in the very frequent 
councils of those tribes, having his own separate cabin and 

* Father Charles Raymbault, for whom see the succeeding document. 

* The "Island Algonquins" were the tribe occupying a large island in Ot- 
tawa River, known as Allumettes, ruled by a chief called Le Borgne (the one- 
eyed). This chieftain exacted tribute of all voyagers up or down the Ottawa, 
and was well known to the early French explorers. 

' Hyroquois or Iroquois, a powerful confederation of five Indian tribes dwell- 
ing south of Lake Ontario. Nothing is known of this specific peace (or truce) 
save what is here narrated. The colony of New France struggled against the 
Iroquois during the whole first century of its existence. 

* The Nipissing Indians were a tribe of Algonquian stock dwelling north of 
the lake (in the present province of Ontario) to which they gave their name. 

15 



16 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1634 

household, and fishing and trading for himself. He was 
finally recalled, and appointed agent and interpreter. While 
in the exercise of this office, he was delegated to make a jour- 
ney to the nation called People of the Sea,^ and arrange peace 
between them and the Hurons, from whom they are distant 
about three hundred leagues westward. He embarked in the 
Huron country,^ with seven savages ; and they passed by many 
small nations, both going and returning. When they arrived 
at their destination, they fastened two sticks in the earth, 
and hung gifts thereon, so as to relieve these tribes from the 
notion of mistaking them for enemies to be massacred. When 
he was two days' journey from that nation, he sent one of 
those savages to bear tidings of the peace, which word was 
especially well received when they heard that it was a Euro- 
pean who carried the message ; they despatched several young 
men to meet the Manitouiriniou — that is to say, "the wonder- 
ful man." They meet him; they escort him, and carry all 
his baggage. He wore a grand robe of China damask, all 
strewn with flowers and birds of many colors. No sooner 
did they perceive him than the women and children fled, at 
the sight of a man who carried thunder in both hands — for 
thus they called the two pistols that he held. The news of 
his coming quickly spread to the places round about, and 
there assembled four or five thousand men. Each of the 
chief men made a feast for him, and at one of these banquets 
they served at least sixscore beavers. The peace was con- 
cluded ; he returned to the Hurons, and some time later to the 
Three Rivers,^ where he continued his employment as agent 
and interpreter, to the great satisfaction of both the French and 
the savages, by whom he was equally and singularly loved. 

* The Winnebago Indians dwelling on the shore of Green Bay. The French 
called them "Puants," a translation of their aboriginal name, which signified 
"ill-smelling or dirty water," a variation of the word applied to the sea. The 
Winnebago were of Dakotan stock, and before Nicolet's day had occupied all 
of southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. 

2 The Huron, of Iroquoian origin, occupied the peninsula between Lake 
Erie and the southern end of Georgian Bay. The earliest French missions were 
founded in their villages and were familiar to early westward explorers. 

3 Three Rivers (Trois Rivieres), on the St. Lawrence, at the mouth of St. 
Maurice River, was the third post of importance in the colony of New France. 



THE JOURNEY OF RAYMBAULT AND JOGUES 
TO THE SAULT, BY FATHER LALEMANT, 1641 



INTRODUCTION 

During the early part of the seventeenth century the 
Huron mission was the centre for Western enterprise and dis- 
covery. This mission was founded in 1615 by the Recollect 
fathers, who in 1625 called Jesuit missionaries to their aid. 
During the occupation of New France by the English (1629- 
1632) this mission served as a refuge for the interpreters and 
adventurers scattered among the interior tribes, and after 
the reoccupation by the French (1632) was assigned to the 
exclusive care of the Jesuits. They maintained the mission 
with great effectiveness, until its disastrous overthrow at the 
hands of the Iroquois in 1649 and 1650. The Huron country 
was situated between Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe, along 
the Wye and Severn rivers, bordering on Matchedash and 
Nottawasaga bays, in the present province of Ontario. The 
Huron were docile and gentle, and village after village became 
the home of a "black-gown" missionary, and the site of a rude 
bark chapel. In 1639 a central station, named Ste. Marie, 
was established upon the Wye ; this was a large, substantially 
built village surrounded by a moat whose outlines are visible 
to the present day. From Ste. Marie attempts were made 
to discover distant tribes and open the way for further mis- 
sionary enterprises. As younger Jesuits sought the promis- 
ing American field, plans were made to preach the gospel to 
the Algonquian tribes who surrounded the Huron on every 
side. Among those chosen for this new enterprise was Father 
Charles Raymbault, a Norman youth, who, after a novitiate 
at Rouen, arrived in Canada in the summer of 1637. Three 
years he tarried in the colony to make himself master of the 
Algonquian tongue, being stationed for a time at Quebec and 

19 



20 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

for a time at Three Rivers. Late in the autumn of 1640 he 
arrived at Huronia and was assigned to his field of labor 
among the Nipissing Indians, whose winter hunting-grounds 
lay adjacent to the villages of the Huron, the two tribes being 
on friendly terms. From one camp to another, throughout 
the cold of a Canadian winter, Father Raymbault wandered, 
willing to starve or freeze might he but snatch some souls 
from the gates of Hell. With the coming of the tardy spring, 
the Nipissing returned to their villages on the northern shore 
of Lake Nipissing, accompanied by their faithful missionary. 

Meanwhile in the Huron mission was laboring Father 
Isaac Jogues, a friend and early comrade of Raymbault, who, 
originally from Orleans, had made his novitiate at Rouen 
and Paris. He had come to New France a year earlier than 
his colleague, and, assigned at once to Huronia, had greatly 
aided in the founding of Ste. Marie. After its completion 
he had attempted an unsuccessful mission to the Petun or 
Tobacco Huron, ancestors of the modern Wyandot Indians. 
Upon his return he found Raymbault en route to his sojourn 
among the Nipissing. The latter mission was terminated 
for the time by the resolve of that tribe to celebrate an elabo- 
rate ceremony known as the feast for the dead. Invitations 
had been sent throughout the Algonquian Northwest ; and on 
the shore of Lake Huron, sixty mUes northwest of the Huron 
villages, there assembled by the 1st of September, 1641, two 
thousand savages from the region of the upper lakes. Thither 
Father Raymbault came with his Nipissing, while from the 
Huron villages the other "black gowns" sought the concourse. 

Under the vivid pen of the Jesuit historian the description 
of this festival reads like a page strayed from a Grecian epic 
— so mighty were the combats, so virile the games, so plain- 
tive the chants, and so agile the dances of these barbarians. 
This is a picture of the primitive Indians, before the white 
man's fire-water and epidemics had enfeebled their bodies 



INTRODUCTION 21 

and lowered their morals. Among their amusements we even 
find the greased pole of our own rude forefathers ; and under 
the guise of mourning their dead they displayed many feats of 
valor and indulged in hearty feasts. 

Among the participants in the festival were a tribe of 
Indians who had come from a distance of a hundred or more 
leagues and who reported themselves to be dwellers beside 
the great strait where the waters leap from the upper or 
"Superior" lake into the basin of Lake Huron. The Jesuit 
fathers, having eagerly made friends with these distant tribes- 
men, were invited to accompany them to their village, where- 
upon Raymbault and Jogues were chosen for the honor of 
the voyage. In the following pages the narrative of their 
journey is told — the first description of the Sault Ste. Marie 
and its aborigines, whose name yet remains as a memorial of 
the expedition. 

After returning to Huronia Raymbault essayed a further 
mission to the Nipissing, but his enfeebled condition made 
rest imperative. Jogues begged to be allowed to accompany 
him to Quebec. There the invalid missionary passed away, 
October 22, 1642. For Jogues was reserved a martyr's fate 
and fame. Captured by the Iroquois on his return route to 
the Huron mission, he was tortured as a prisoner until rescued 
by the Dutch of Albany, who sent him back to France. Thence 
in June, 1644, he again sought Quebec, and was finally mas- 
sacred by the Iroquois when he essayed a mission to their 
country. The portion of his biography which forms a part 
of the history of New York is set forth, in connection with 
portions of his narrative writings, in an earlier volume of this 
series. Narratives of New Netherland, pp. 235-263. 

The following account of the discovery of Sault Ste. Marie 
in 1641 is taken from the second part of the Jesuit Relation of 
1642, which was written from the country of the Huron by 
Father Jerome Lalemant. In all probability he had with 



22 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

him, as he wrote, the original narratives of the discoverers 
themselves. Certainly the narrative must be regarded as 
first-hand material, since the writer was present both at the 
departure and at the return of Raymbault and Jogues, and 
heard their adventures from their own lips. The passage we 
here present is from Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, XXIII . 223- 
227. 



THE JOURNEY OF RAYMBAULT AND JOGUES 
TO THE SAULT, 1641 

In this gathering of so many assembled nations,^ we 
strove to win the affections of the chief personages by means 
of feasts and presents. In consequence of this, the Pauoiti- 
goueieuhak invited us to go and see them in their own coun- 
try. (They are a nation of the Algonquin language, distant 
from the Hurons a hundred or a hundred and twenty leagues 
towards the west, whom we call the inhabitants of the Sault.)^ 
We promised to pay them a visit, to see how they might be 
disposed, in order to labor for their conversion, especially as 
we learned that a more remote nation whom they call Pou- 
teatami^ had abandoned their own country and taken 
refuge with the inhabitants of the Sault, in order to remove 
from some other hostile nation who persecuted them with 
endless wars. We selected Father Charles Raymbaut to 
undertake this journey ; and as, at the same time, some 
Hurons were to be of the party, Father Isaac Jogues was 
chosen, that he might deal with them. 

They started from our house of Ste. Marie,^ about the 

1 This refers to the feast for the dead described in the Introduction, ante. 

2 Pauoitigoueieuhak is one form of the native name of this tribe, and means 
"dwellers at the falls." The French translated this name into their own lan- 
guage and called the tribe Saulteurs (Sauteux). They are known to us as the 
Chippewa, one of the largest tribes of Algonquian stock. This tribe still dwells 
in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, and in Ontario along the northern shore 
of Lake Superior. 

3 The Potawatomi in language and customs are nearly allied to the Chip- 
pewa. From their temporary refuge at Sault Ste. Marie they removed to the 
entrance of Green Bay, and gradually spread along the western shore of Lake 
Michigan, occupying the sites of Milwaukee and Chicago, and doubling around 
the southern end of Lake Michigan into northern Indiana and southwest Michi- 
gan. By successive cessions in the early nineteenth century they sold their 
lands and removed to Kansas and Oklahoma, where remnants of the tribe are 
now living. 

* See Introduction, ante, for this mission village. 

23 



24 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1641 

end of September, and after seventeen days of navigation 
on the great lake or fresh-water sea that bathes the land of 
the Hurons, they reached the Sault, where they found about 
two thousand souls, and obtained information about a great 
many other sedentaiy nations, who have never known Euro- 
peans and have never heard of God — among others, of a cer- 
tain nation, the Nadouessis,^ situated to the northwest or 
west of the Sault, eighteen days' journey farther away. The 
first nine days are occupied in crossing another great lake 
that commences above the Sault; during the last nine days 
one has to ascend a river that traverses those lands.^ These 
peoples till the soil in the manner of our Hurons, and harvest 
Indian corn and tobacco. Their villages are larger, and in 
a better state of defense, owing to their continual wars with 
the Kiristinons, the Irinions, and other great nations who 
inhabit the same country.^ Their language differs from the 
Algonquin and Huron tongues. 

The captains of this nation of the Sault invited our Fathers 
to take up their abode among them. They were given to 
understand that this was not impossible, provided that they 
were well disposed to receive our instruction. After having 
held a council, they replied that they greatly desired that good 
fortune — that they would embrace us as their Brothers, and 
would profit by our words. But we need laborers for that 
purpose ; we must first try to win the peoples that are nearest 
to us, and meanwhile pray Heaven to hasten the moment of 
their conversion. 

Father Charles Raymbaut had no sooner returned from 

^This was the Algonquian name for the Sioux Indians. It signified the 
"enemy," and indicates the hostile spirit that existed for generations between 
the Chippewa and the Sioux. The habitat of the latter was at the western end 
of Lake Superior, about the headwaters of the Mississippi, thence west to the 
Missoiu-i, where several large branches of their tribe dwelt. They are still on 
reservations in the Dakotas along the tributaries of the Missouri. 

2 This is a description, from the reports of the Indians, of the route to the 
Sioux via Lake Superior, St. Louis River, and by various portages to the lakes 
of the upper Mississippi. 

3 Kiristinons (Christinaux) are the tribe now known as the Cree, a northern 
Algonquian people who roamed the plains north and west of Lake Superior to 
the shores of Lake Winnipeg and beyond. "Irinions" refers to the Illinois, 
then the largest tribe between the Ohio, the Mississippi, and Lake Michigan. 



1641] JOURNEY OF RAYMBAULT AND JOGUES 25 

this journey to the Saut than he reembarked in another 
canoe, to seek the Nipissiriniens at their winter quarters and 
to continue instructing them. Father Rene Menard/ who 
had recently come to our assistance, went with him, for we 
deemed it advisable to retain Father Claude Pijart,^ so as 
not to abandon entirely a number of other Algonquin bands 
who come here every year to winter with the Hurons. 

The lake was so agitated, the winds so contrary, and the 
storms so great, that the canoe was compelled to put back 
to our port, whence it had started ; and, as the ice formed im- 
mediately afterward, . it rendered the voyage impossible. 
Father Charles Raymbaut thereupon fell seriously ill, and has 
not had one day's good health since. 

A great many Algonquins landed at the same time near 
our house, with the intention of spending the winter here. 
God wished to give employment to the two Fathers who 
knew the Algonquin language, and who remained in health, 
so as thereby to save some souls that he had chosen for Heaven ; 
for disease carried off several children, and I do not think 
that a single one of them died without having received bap- 
tism, whatever opposition the parents may often have shown 
thereto. 

iRene Menard entered the Jesuit order in 1624 at the age of nineteen; 
sixteen years later he came to Quebec, and in 1641 was sent to the Huron coun- 
try as a missionary for the Algonquian tribes. This was his first attempt to 
winter among the savages; the next spring, however, he and Pijart began a 
Nipissing mission that was maintained for eighteen months. Returning to 
Huronia, he labored there until the ruin of that mission. In 1660 he visited Lake 
Superior, and during the following summer, somewhere in the wilderness of north- 
ern Wisconsin, was lost in the woods and never found. 

2 Claude Pijart came to Canada three years before Menard, was assigned 
to the Algonquian mission, became, in 1653, superior of his order, and acted as 
pastor for the town of Quebec, where he died November 16, 1680. 



RADISSON'S ACCOUNT OF HIS THIRD 
JOURNEY, 1658-1660 [1654-1656 ?] 



INTRODUCTION 

After the voyages described in the preceding documents 
nearly twenty years elapsed before any recorded expeditions 
of discovery and exploration into the Northwest took place. 
This was due in large measure to the harassing of New France 
by wars with the Iroquois — raids which resulted in the com- 
plete overthrow of the flourishing Huron missions, and ren- 
dered extremely hazardous all journeying in the Upper Coun- 
try. 

The Iroquois, after destroying the tribes south of Lake 
Erie, turned their arms against the villages of the Huron, 
capturing numbers whom they either put to torture or trans- 
ported to their own coimtry and incorporated into their 
confederacy. The Jesuit missionaries were forced to flee 
before this storm of war, and with a few of their neophytes 
took refuge at Quebec. Even here they were not safe from 
the fury of their enemies. The island of Orleans at the foot 
of the Quebec bluff was raided and many Huron carried cap- 
tive. All the waterways were infested by war parties. It 
was no longer safe to journey from Quebec up the St. Law- 
rence, much less to venture forth into the great wilderness 
of the Northwest. Nor did the Western Indians dare to 
bring to the colony the peltry they gathered in the northern 
regions; New France, whose economic life rested on the fur 
trade, was on the verge of ruin. Means were sought to escape 
the Iroquois by roundabout routes; some tribesmen crossing 
the network of lakes in northern Canada came down the St. 
Maurice to the little post at Three Rivers. 

At this post there dwelt two young Frenchmen whose 

29 I 



so EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

exploits of exploration and discovery were to create a new epoch 
for the French colony in the New World. M^dart Chouart, 
Sieur des Grosseilliers, had been born in eastern France, 
somewhere in the region of the Marne, so lately scarred and 
torn by battling armies. In 1637 he arrived in New France, 
and having entered the Jesuit service as a donne or assistant, 
spent nine years in the Huron mission. About the middle 
of the seventeenth century he removed to Three Rivers, where 
in 1653 he married Marguerite, widowed sister of Pierre Esprit 
Radisson. Radisson and Grosseilliers soon formed a con- 
genial partnership which endured through many years of 
association in adventure. Radisson, although the younger, 
appears to have been the leader in their expeditions, and to 
his fertile mind and dauntless spirit we may attribute the 
success of their explorations. 

Radisson had reached New France in the summer of 1651. 
The following spring, while exploring the environs of Three 
Rivers, he was taken prisoner by a party of Iroquois and 
carried to their villages, where adoption saved him from the 
stake. On a visit to Albany he was rescued from the savages 
by some Dutch merchants, who sent him home to France; 
thence he returned to Three Rivers in the summer of 1654. 
Notwithstanding his rough treatment at the hands of the 
Iroquois he accompanied, in 1657, a colony into their country, 
to escape only with difl&culty in the following year. 

Meanwhile Radisson yearned to see the mysterious West, 
whence the caravans of furs arriving at Three Rivers brought 
news of great lakes and streams, gentle people, and game 
untold. Perchance traditions of Nicolet's voyage, lingering 
at Three Rivers, whetted his desire to venture in the foot- 
steps of the earlier explorer. As for Grosseilliers, his sojourn 
among the Huron had certainly made him familiar with the 
peoples of the West and taught him something of their lan- 
guages and customs. 



INTRODUCTION 31 

The two brothers (as they called themselves) secured the 
governor's permission to return with one of the trading fleets 
of Indian canoes that during a lull in Iroquois hostilities had, 
to the great joy of the colonists, reached the St. Lawrence 
unmolested. The voyage — known as the third Radisson 
voyage, the two to the Iroquois being the first and second 
respectively — is described in the following pages. 

The date of this third voyage or rather first Western voyage 
is much in doubt; it has usually been referred to the years 
1658 to 1660. The Jesuit Relation of 1656, however, mentions 
the return in that year of two nameless travellers, who had 
spent two years in the interior of the country ; and since no 
mention can be found of Radisson or Grosseilliers in the 
register of Three Rivers during those years, some scholars 
assume that they were the anonymous voyagers of the Relation. 
The question of the date cannot be determined from the sources 
now available. 

The two discoverers made a second journey to the West, 
in the course of which they visited Lake Superior and the head- 
waters of the Mississippi, and seem to have journeyed over- 
land to Hudson Bay. They returned to New France with 
an immense fortune in furs, and, angered by some unjust 
treatment, left the colony and offered their services as ex- 
plorers to the English king, Charles II. Under his patronage 
they made several voyages to Hudson Bay ; aided in founding 
the great fur company of that name ; returned once more to 
the French service and revisited Canada, where Grosseilliers 
thenceforth remained. Radisson, however, deserted once 
more to the English service, made several more voyages to 
Hudson Bay, and, having married an English wife, lived in 
London on his pension from the Hudson's Bay Company 
until his death about the year 1710. 

The manuscripts of Radisson's narratives have had al- 
most as adventurous a career as their author. The journals 



32 EARLY NARRATIVES OP THE NORTHWEST 

of the first four voyages to the Iroquois country and to the 
Northwest were written, not for pubHcation, but for the 
edification and entertainment of Charles II. of England, 
whose patronage Radisson desired. They were written in 
English, the EngHsh of an unaccustomed foreigner. They 
came into the hands of Samuel Pepys, the diarist, who was 
secretary of the Admiralty under Charles II. and his brother 
James. Part of Pepys's manuscripts were secured by a 
London shopkeeper, who was using them for waste paper 
when, in 1750, Richard Rawlinson rescued the remnants, 
among them the narrative of Radisson. Rawlinson's col- 
lection came into the possession of the Bodleian Library at 
Oxford, where the Radisson manuscripts (Rawlinson A. 329) 
remained unnoticed until the last quarter of the nineteenth 
century. Interest having been aroused in Radisson as the 
founder of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the records of 
his voyages thither having been found in the British Museum, 
the Bodleian journals were brought to light, and in 1885 
published under the editorship of Gideon D. Scull for the 
Prince Society in Boston. They awakened much interest 
among students of Western history, both for the charm of the 
narrative, for the vivid description of natural objects, and 
for the great daring of the adventurers. Discussion of the 
probable route and extent of the discovery has been volumi- 
nous, since they were the first white men known to have pene- 
trated into the country beyond the Great Lakes. Thus they 
probably were the discoverers of Iowa, Minnesota, and the 
Canadian Northwest. They are likewise claimed as the first 
French discoverers of the Mississippi River. The difficulty 
of interpreting Radisson's text, written in a language un- 
familiar to himself and some years after the completion of 
his journeys, adds to the differences of opinion with regard to 
the route and the locations described. Nevertheless the es- 
sential facts of his discovery are clear, and as the earliest 



INTRODUCTION 33 

description we now possess of the country beyond the upper 
lakes, these pages have an especial significance. 

We reprint by permission of the Prince Society from their 
edition of Radisson's Journals, pp. 134-172. 



RADISSON'S ACCOUNT OF HIS THIRD 
JOURNEY, 1658-1660 [1654-1656?] 

Nmo followeth the Auxoticiat Voyage into the Great and filthy 
Lake of the Hurrons, Upper Sea of the East, and Bay of 
the North. 

Being come to the 3 rivers, where I found my brother who 
the yeare before came back from the lake of the Hurrons with 
other french, both weare upon the point of resolution to 
make a journey a purpose for to discover the great lakes 
that they heard the wild men^ speak off; yea, have seene 
before, For my brother made severall journeys when the 
Fathers lived about the lake of the hurrons, which was upon 
the border of the sea. So my brother seeing me back from 
those 2 dangerous voyages, so much by the cruelties of the 
barbars as for the difficulties of the wayes, for this reason 
he thought I was fitter and more faithfuU for the discovery 
that he was to make. He plainly told me his minde. I know- 
ing it, longed to see myselfe in a boat. There weare severall 
companies of wild men Expected from severall places, because 
they promissed the yeare before, and [to] take the advantage 
of the Spring (this for to deceive the Iroquoits, who are all- 
way es in wait for to destroy them), and of the rivers which is 
by reason of the melting of the great snows, which is onely 
that time, For otherwise no possibility to come that way be- 
cause for the swift streams that runs in summer, and in other 
places the want of watter, so that no boat can come through. 
We soone see the performance of those people, For a com- 
pany came to the 3 rivers where we weare. They tould us 
that another company was arrived att Mont Royal,^ and that 
2 more weare to come shortly, the one to the Three Rivers, the 

^The French habitually spoke of the Indians as "sauvages," savages; 
Radisson, whose use of English was not idiomatic, translates the idea into the 
term "wild" (or uncivilized) men. 

2 Montreal, named from the peak that dominates its site, was founded in 
1642 as a religious colony by Maisonneuve and his associates. It became the 
great fur-trade market of New France. 

34 






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A PAGE OF THE MANUSCRIPT OF RADISSON'S JOURNAL 

From the original in the Bodleian Library, Oxford 



1658-1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 35 

other to Saegne, a river of Tudousack/ who arrived within 
2 dayes after. They divided themselves because of the scant 
of provision ; For if they weare together they could not have 
victualls enough. Many goes and comes to Quebecq for 
to know the resolution of mr Governor, who together with the 
Fathers thought fitt to send a company of French to bring 
backe, if possible, those wildmen the next yeare, or others, 
being that it is the best manna of the countrey by which the 
inhabitants doe subsist, and makes the French vessells to 
come there and goe back loaden with merchandises for the 
traffique of furriers who comes from the remotest parts of the 
north of America. 

As soone as the resolution was made, many undertakes the 
voyage ; for where that there is lucre there are people enough 
to be had. The best and ablest men for that businesse weare 
chosen. They make them goe up the 3 rivers with the band 
that came with the Sacques. There take those that weare 
most capable for the purpose. Two Fathers weare chosen to 
conduct that company, and endeavoured to convert some of 
those foraigners of the remotest country to the Christian 
faith. We no sooner heard their designe, but saw the effects 
of the businesse, which effected in us much gladnesse for the 
pleasure we could doe to one another, and so abler to oppose 
an ennemy if by fortune we should meet with any that would 
doe us hurt or hinder us in our way. 

About the midle of June we began to take leave of our 
company and venter our lives for the common good. We 
find 2 and 30 men, some inhabitants, some Gailliards^ that 
desired but doe well. What fairer bastion then a good tongue, 
especially when one sees his owne chimney smoak, or when 
we can kiss our owne wives or kisse our neighbour's wife with 
ease and delight? It is a strange thing when victualls are 
wanting, worke whole nights and dayes, lye downe on the 
bare ground, and not allwayes that hap, the breech in the wat- 
ter, the feare in the buttocks, to have the belly empty, the 
wearinesse in the bones, and drowsinesse of the body by the 
bad weather that you are to suffer, having nothing to keepe 
you from such calamity. 

^ The River Saguenay, at whose mouth is the port Tadoussac. 
* "Gaillard" means a merry fellow or a jolly companion. 



36 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1658-1660? 

Att last we take our journey to see the issue of a prosperous 
adventure in such a dangerous enterprise. We resolved not 
to be the first that should complaine. The French weare to- 
gether in order, the wildmen also, saving my brother and I 
that weare accustomed to such like voyages, have foreseene 
what happened afterwards. Before our setting forth we 
made some guifts, and by that means we weare sure of their 
good will, so that he and I went into the boats of the wild 
men. We weare nine and twenty french in number and 6 
wildmen. We embarked our traine in the night, because 
our number should not be knowne to some spyes that might 
bee in some ambush to know our departure; For the Iro- 
quoits are allwayes abroad. We weare 2 nights to gett to 
mont royall, where 8 Octanac^ stayed for us and 2 French. 
If not for that company, we had passed the river of the med- 
dowes,^ which makes an isle of Mont royall and joines itself e 
to the lake of St. Louis, 3 leagues further then the hight of 
that name. 

We stayed no longer there then as the french gott them- 
selves ready. We tooke leave without noise of Gun. We 
cannot avoid the ambush of that eagle, which is like the owle 
that sees better in the night then in the day. We weare not 
sooner come to the first river, but our wildmen sees 5 sorts 
of people of divers countrys laden with marchandise and 
gunns, which served them for a shew then for defence if by 
chance they should be sett on. So that the glorie begins to 
shew itsselfe, no order being observed among them. The one 
sings, the other before goes in that posture without bad en- 
counter. We advanced 3 dayes. There was no need of such 

1 The Ottawa Indians were a branch of the Algonquian stock, first en- 
countered by the French on the islands in Lake Huron. Later they fled west- 
ward before the pressure of the Iroquois, and after brief sojourns at Mackinac 
and in the interior of Wisconsin located for a time on Chequamegon Bay. Still 
later they returned to the vicinity of Mackinac, which became their permanent 
habitat. A remnant of this tribe lives at present on Little Traverse Bay. The 
Ottawa were traders, and acted as middlemen between the French and the 
farther tribesmen. Hence the great flotillas coming down to Canada with furs 
were said to come from the Ottawa, while the region of the upper lakes was known 
as the Ottawa country. 

2 This stream is still called River des Prairies, separating Montreal and 
Jesus islands. 



165g-1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 37 

a silence among us. Our men composed onely of seaven 
score men, we had done well if we had kept together, not to 
goe before in the river,^ nor stay behind some 2 or 3 leagues. 
Some 3 or 4 boats now and then to land to kill a wild beast, 
and so putt themselves into a danger of their lives, and if there 
weare any precipice the rest should be impotent to helpe. 
We warned them to looke to themselves. They laughed 
att us, saying we weare women ; that the Iroquoits durst not 
sett on them. That pride had such power that they thought 
themselves masters of the earth ; but they will see themselves 
soone mistaken. How that great God that takes great care 
of the most wild creatures, and will that every man confesses 
his faults, and give them grace to come to obedience for the 
preservation of their lives, sends them a remarquable power 
and ordnance, which should give terrour and retinue to those 
poore misled people from the way of assurance. 

As we wandered in the afforesaid manner all a sunder, there 
comes a man alone out of the wood with a hattchett in his 
hand, with his brayer, and a cover ^ over his shoulders, making 
signes aloud that we should come to him. The greatest part 
of that flock shewed a palish face for feare att the sight of 
this man, knowing him an ennemy. They approached not 
without feare and apprehension of some plot. By this you 
may see the boldnesse of those buzards, that think themselves 
hectors when they see but their shadowes, and tremble when 
they see a Iroquoit. That wild man seeing us neerer, setts 
him downe on the ground and throwes his hattchett away and 
raises againe all naked, to shew that he hath no armes, desires 
them to approach neerer for he is their friend, and would lose 
his life to save theirs. Hee shewed in deed a right captayne 
for saveing of men that ruimed to their mine by their indis- 
cretion and want of conduct; and what he did was out of 
meere piety, seeing well that they wanted wit, to goe so like 
a company of bucks, every one to his fancy, where his litle 
experience leads him, nor thinking that danger wherin they 

^ The adventurers were ascending Ottawa River, the usual route to the Upper 
Country. Some commentators have asserted that Radisson and Grosseilliers 
took the St. Lawrence route through the lower lakes ; but that view is now gen- 
erally discarded. 

* The Indian was clad in a blanket (cover) and breech-cloth (brayer). 



38 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1658-1660? 

weare, shewing by their march they weare no men, for not 
fearing. As for him, he was ready to die to render them 
service and prisoner into their hands freely. "For," saith he, 
"I might have escaped your sight, but that I would have 
saved you. I feare," sayth he, "not death"; so with that 
comes downe into the watter to his midle. There comes many 
boats about him, takes him into one of the boats, tying a 
coard fast about his body. There is he fastned. He begins 
to sing his fatal song that they call a nouroyall. That horrid 
tone being finished, makes a long, a very long speech, saying. 

Brethren, the day the sunne is favourable to mee, appointed 
mee to tell you that yee are witlesse before I die, neither can they 
escape their ennemys, that are spred up and downe everywhere, 
that watches all moments their coming to destroy them. Take 
great courage, brethren, sleepe not; the ennemy is att hand. They 
wait for you; they are soe neare that they see you, and heare you, 
and are sure that you are their prey. Therefore I was willing to 
die to give you notice. For my part that what I have ben I am a 
man and commander in the warrs, and tooke severall prisoners; 
yet I would put meselfe in death's hands to save your lives. Believe 
me; keepe you altogether; spend not your powder in vaine, think- 
ing to frighten your enemys by the noise of your guns. See if 
the stoanes of your arrowes be not bent or loose; bend your bowes; 
open your ears; keepe your hattchetts sharpe to cutt trees to make 
you a fort; doe not spend soe much greas to greas yourselves, but 
keep it for your bellies. Stay not too long in the way. It 's robbery 
to die with conduct. 

That poore wretch spake the truth and gave good instruc- 
tions, but the greatest part did not understand what he said, 
saving the hurrons that weare with him, and I, that tould them 
as much as I could perceive. Every one laughs, saying he 
himself is afraid and tells us that story. We call him a dogg, 
a woman, and a henne. We will make you know that we 
weare men, and for his paines we should burne him when we 
come to our country. Here you shall see the brutishnesse of 
those people that think themselves valliant to the last point. 
No comparison is to be made with them for vallour, but 
quite contrary. They passe away the rest of that day with 
great exclamations of joy, but it will not last long. 



1658-1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 39 

That night wee layd in our boats and made not the ketle 
boyle, because we had meat ready dressed. Every boat is 
tyed up in the rushes, whether out of feare for what the 
prisoner told them, or that the prisoner should escape, I know 
not. They went to sleepe without any watch. The French be- 
gan to wish and moane for that place from whence they came 
from. What will it be if wee heare yeatt cryes and sorrows 
after all? Past the breake of day every one takes his oare 
to row ; the formost oares have great advantage. We heard 
the torrent rumble, but could not come to the land that 
day, although not farr from us. Some twelve boats gott 
afore us. These weare saluted with guns and outcrys. In the 
meane while one boat runs one way, one another ; some men 
lands and runs away. We are all put to it; non knowes 
where he is, they are put to such a confusion. All those 
beasts gathers together againe frighted. Seeing no way to 
escape, gott themselves all in a heape like unto ducks that 
sees the eagle come to them. 

That first feare being over a litle, they resolved to land 
and to make a fort with all speed, which was done in lesse then 
two houres. The most stupidest drowsy are the nimblest for 
the hattchett and cutting of trees. The fort being finished, 
every one maketh himselfe in a readiness to sustaine the 
assault if any had tempted. The prisoner was brought, who 
soone was despatched, burned and roasted and eaten. The 
Iroquoits had so served them, as many as they have taken. 
We mist 20 of our company, but some came safe to us, and lost 
13 that weare killed and taken in that defeat. The Iroquoite 
finding himselfe weake would not venture, and was obliged to 
leave us least he should be discovered and served as the other. 
Neverthelesse they shewed good countenances, went and builded 
a fort as we have done, where they fortified themselves and 
feed on human flesh which they gott in the warres. They 
weare afraid as much as we, but far from that ; For the night 
being come, every one imbarks himselfe, to the soimd of a low 
trumpet, by the help of the darknesse. We went to the other 
side, leaving our marchandises for our ransome to the ennemy 
that used us so unkindly. We made some cariages that 
night with a world of paines. We mist 4 of our boats, so 
that we must alter our equipages. The wildmen complained 



40 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1658-1660? 

much that the French could not swime, for that they might 
be together. The French seeing that they weare not able 
to undergo such a voyage, they consult together and for 
conclusion resolved to give an end to such labours and dangers ; 
moreover, found themselves incapable to follow the wildmen 
who went with all the speed possible night and day for the 
feare that they weare in. The Fathers, seeing our weak- 
nesse, desired the wildmen that they might have one or two to 
direct them, which by no means was granted, but bid us doe 
as the rest. We kept still our resolution, and knowing more 
tricks then they, would not goe back, which should be but dis- 
dainful and prejudiciall. We told them so plainly that we 
would finish that voyage or die by the way. Besides that the 
wildmen did not complaine of us att all, but incouraged us. 
After a long arguing, every one had the liberty to goe back- 
wards or foi-wards, if any had courage to venter himselfe with 
us. Seeing the great difficulties, all with one consent went 
back againe, and we went on. 

The wildmen weare not sorry for their departure, because 
of their ignorance in the affaire of such navigation. It 's a 
great alteration to see one and 30 reduced to 2. We en- 
couraged one another, both willing to live and die with one 
another ; and that [is] the least we could doe, being brothers. 
Before we [went] to the lake of the hurrons we had crosses 
enough, but no encounter. We travelled onely in the night 
in these dangerous places, which could not be done without 
many vexations and labours. The vanity was somewhat 
cooler for the example we have seene the day before. The 
hungar was that tormented us most ; for him we could not goe 
seeke for some wild beasts. Our chiefest food was onely 
some few fishes which the wildmen caught by a line, may be 
two dozens a whole day, no bigger then my hand. 

Being come to the place of repose, some did goe along the 
water side on the rocks and there exposed ourselves to the 
rigour of the weather. Upon these rocks we find some shells, 
blackish without and the inner part whitish by reason of 
the heat of the smi and of the humidity. They are in a 
maner glued to the rock;^ so we must gett another stone to 

^ Apparently the punctuation should be, a period after " whitish " and a 
comma after " humidity." 



1658-1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 41 

gett them off by scraping them hard. When we thought to 
have enough [we] went baclv again to the Cottages, where 
the rest weare getting the htle fishes ready with trips/ gutts 
and all. The kittle was full with the scraping of the rocks, 
which soone after it boyled became like starch, black and clam- 
mie and easily to be swallowed. I think if any bird had 
lighted upon the excrements of the said stuff, they had stuckt 
to it as if it weare glue. In the fields we have gathered severall 
fruits, as goosberyes, blackberrys, that in an houre we 
gathered above a bushell of such sorte, although not as yett 
full ripe. We boyled it, and then every one had his share. 
Heere was daintinesse slighted. The belly did not permitt us 
to gett on neither shoos nor stockins, that the better we 
might goe over the rocks, which did [make] our feet smart [so] 
that we came backe. Our feet and thighs and leggs weare 
scraped with thorns, in a heape of blood. The good God 
looked uppon those infidels by sending them now and then a 
beare into the river, or if we perceived any in an Isle forced 
them to swime, that by that means we might the sooner kill 
them. But the most parts there abouts is so sterill that there 
is nothing to be scene but rocks and sand, and on the high 
wayes but deale trees that grow most miraculously, for that 
earth is not to be seene than can nourish the root, and most of 
them trees are very bigg and high. We tooke a litle refresh- 
ment in a place called the lake of Castors, which is some 30 
leagues from the first great lake.^ Some of those wildmen hid 
a rest ^ as they went down to the French ; but the lake was 
so full of fishes we tooke so much that served us a long while. 
We came to a place where weare abundance of Otters, in 
so much that I believe all gathered to hinder our passage. 
We killed some with our arrows, not daring to shoote because 
we discovered there abouts some tracks, judgmg to be our 
ennemy by the impression of their feet in the sand. All 
knowes there one another by their march, for each hath his 

1 "Tripe des roches." This is a species of lichen that in extremity of 
hunger is scraped from rocks and eaten. While unpalatable, it is capable of sus- 
taining life. 

2 Lake of Castors (Beaver Lake) is the present Lake Nipissing, en route to 
the "first great lake" (Huron). 

* /. e., made a cache. 



42 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1658-1660? 

proper steps, some upon their toes, some on their heele, which 
is natural to them, for when they are infants the mother 
warpeth them to their mode. Heer I speake not of the hor- 
rid streams we passed, nor of the falls of the water, which weare 
of an incredible height. In some parts most faire and de- 
licious, where people formerly lived onely by what they could 
gett by the bow and arrows. We weare come above 300 
leagues allwayes against the streame, and made 60 carriages, 
besides drawing,^ besides the swift streams we overcame by 
the oares and poles to come to that litle lake of Castors which 
may be 30 or 40 leagues in compasse. The upper end of it is 
full of Islands, where there is not time lost to wander about, 
finding wherewith all to make the kettle boyle with venison, 
great bears, castors and fishes, which are plenty in that place. 
The river that we goe to the great lake is somewhat f avorable.^ 
We goe downe with ease and runing of the watter, which emp- 
ties itsselfe in that lake in which we are now coming in. This 
river hath but 8 high and violent streams, which is some 30 
leagues in length. The place where we weare is a bay all 
full of rocks, small isles, and most between wind and water 
with an infinite [number] of fishes, which are seene in the water 
so cleare as christian. That is the reason of so many otters, 
that lives onely uppon fish. Each of us begins to looke to his 
bundle and merchandizes and prepare himselfe for the bad 
weather that uses to be on that great extent of water. The 
wildmen finds what they hid among the rocks 3 months be- 
fore they came up to the french.^ Heere we are stiring about 
in our boats as nimble as bees and divided ourselves into 2 
companys. Seaven boats went towards west norwest and the 
rest to the South. 

After we mourned enough for the death of our deare 
countrymen that weare slained coming up, we take leave of 
each other with promise of amitie and good correspondence 

* Radisson here distinguishes between portages (carriages), when all canoes 
were unloaded and dragged around the obstruction, and decharges (drawings), 
when the canoe's load was lightened so that it could in that condition be drawn 
over the shallows or through the rapids. 

* Formerly Rivifere des Fran9ai3, it is now known as French River, emptying 
into Georgian Bay. 

* Radisson means before they came down to the French merchants at 
Three Rivers. 



1658-1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 43 

one with another, as for the continuance of peace, as for the 
assistance of strength, if the enemy should make an assault. 
That they should not goe to the french without giving notice 
one to another and soe goe together. We that weare for the 
South went on severall dayes merily, and saw by the way the 
place where the Fathers Jesuits had heretofore lived; a de- 
licious place, albeit we could but see it afarre off.^ The coast 
of this lake is most delightfull to the minde. The lands 
smooth, and woods of all sorts. In many places there are 
many large open fields wherein, I believe, wildmen formerly 
lived before the destruction of the many nations which did in- 
habit, and tooke more place then 600 leagues about; for I 
can well say that from the river of Canada to the great lake 
of the hurrons, which is neere 200 leagues in length and 60 in 
breadth, as I guesse, for I have [been] round about it, plenty 
of fish. There are banks of sand 5 or 6 leagues from the 
waterside, where such an infinite deale of fish that scarcely 
we are able to draw out our nett. There are fishes as bigg 
as children of 2 years old. There is sturgeon enough and 
other sorte that is not knowne to us. The South part is with- 
out isles, onely in some bayes where there are some. It is 
delightfull to goe along the side of the watter in summer where 
you may pluck the ducks. 

We must stay often in a place 2 or 3 dayes for the con- 
trary winds; For [if] the winds weare anything high, we 
durst not venter the boats against the impetuosity of the 
waves, which is the reason that our voyages are so long and 
tedious. A great many large deep rivers empties them- 
selves in that lake, and an infinit number of other small rivers, 
that cann beare boats, and all from lakes and pools which 
are in abundance in that country. 

After we travelled many dayes we arrived att a large is- 
land^ where we foimd their village, their wives and children. 
You must know that we passed a strait some 3 leagues be- 
yond that place. The wildmen give it a name; it is an- 
other lake, but not so bigg as that we passed before. We 
calle it the lake of the staring hairs, because those that live 

^ The southern shore of Georgian Bay, the country of the Huron mission. 
See narrative of Raymbault and Jogues, ante. 

2 Probably Manitoulin Island, where the French first found Ottawa villages. 



44 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1658-1660? 

about it have their hair Hke a brush turned up. They all 
have a hole in their nose, which is done by a straw which is 
above a foot long. It barrs their faces. Their ears have or- 
dinarily 5 holes, where one may putt the end of his finger. 
They use those holes m this sort : to make themselves gallant 
they passe through it a skrew of coper with much dexterity, 
and goe on the lake in that posture. When the winter comes 
they weare no capes ^ because of their haire tourned up. They 
fill those skrews with swan's downe, and with it their ears 
covered; but I dare say that the people doe not for to hold 
out the cold, but rather for pride. For their coimtry is not so 
cold as the north, and other lakes that we have seene since. 

It should be difficult to describe what variety of faces our 
arrivement did cause, some out of joy, others out of sadnesse. 
Neverthelesse the numbers of joyfull exceeded that of the 
sorrowfull. The season began to invite the lustiest to hunt- 
ing. We neither desire to be idle in any place, having learned 
by experience that idlenesse is the mother of all evil, for it 
breeds most part of all sicknesse in those parts where the 
aire is most delightfuU. So that they who had most knowl- 
edge in these quarters had familiarity with the people that 
live there about the last lake. 

The nation that we weare with had warrs with the Iro- 
quoits, and must trade. Our wildmen out of feare must con- 
sent to their ennemy to live in their land. It 's true that 
those who lived about the first lake had not for the most part 
the conveniency of our french merchandise, as since, which 
obliged most of the remotest people to make peace, consider- 
ing the enemy of theirs that came as a thunder bolt upon 
them, so that they joyned with them and forgett what was 
past for their owne preservation. Att our coming there we 
made large guifts, to dry up the tears of the friends of the de- 
ceased. As we came there the circumjacent neighbours came 
to visit us, that bid us welcome, as we are so. There comes 
newes that there weare ennemy in the fields, that they weare 
seene att the great field. There is a councell called, and re- 
solved that they should be searched and sett uppon them as 
[soon as] possible may be, which [was] executed speedily. I 
offered my service, soe went and looked for them 2 dayes; 

1 Caps. 



1658-1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 45 

finding them the 3d day, gave them the assault when they 
least thought off it. We played the game so furiously that 
none escaped. 

The day following we returned to our village with 8 of our 
enemys dead and 3 alive. The dead weare eaten and the liv- 
ing weare burned with a small fire to the rigour of cruelties, 
which comforted the desolat to see them revenged of the death 
of their relations that was so served. We weare then pos- 
sessed by the hurrons and Octanac ; but our minde was not to 
stay in an island, but to be knowne with the remotest people. 
The victory that we have gotten made them consent to what 
we could desire, and because that we shewed willing[ness] 
to die for their defence. So we desired to goe with a com- 
pany of theirs that was going to the nation of the stairing 
haires. 

We weare wellcomed and much made of, saying that we 
weare the Gods and devils of the earth ; that we should f our- 
nish them, and that they would bring us to their ennemy to 
destroy them. We tould them [we] were very well content. 
We persuaded them first to come peaceably, not to destroy 
them presently, and if they would not condescend, then would 
wee throw away the hattchett and make use of our thunders. 
We sent ambassadors to them with guifts. That nation called 
Poutouatemic]i ^ without more adoe comes and meets us with 
the rest, and peace was concluded. Feasts were made and 
dames with guifts came of each side, with a great deale of 
mirth. 

We visited them during that winter, and by that means we 
made acquaintance with an other nation called Escoteclve, 
which signified fire, a faire proper nation; the}^ are tall and 
bigg and very strong.^ We came there in the spring. When 
we arrived there weare extraordinary banquetts. There they 
never have seen men with beards, because they pull their 

^ The Potawatomi Indians, for whom see p. 23 ante, note 3. 

' This tribe was probably the Mascoutin, an Algonquian tribe, allied to the 
Miami and Illinois. Their original habitat appears to have been in southeast 
Michigan; thence about the middle of the seventeenth century they migrated 
to Wisconsin and had a large village on upper Fox River. In the eighteenth 
century they migrated to the Wabash, and dwindled in number until they be- 
came as a tribe extinct. 



46 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1658-1660? 

haires as soone as it comes out; but much more astonished 
when they saw our armes, especially our guns, which they 
worshipped by blowing smoake of tobacco instead of sacrifice. 
I will not insist much upon their way of living, For of their 
ceremonys heere you will see a pattern. 

In the last voyage that wee made I will lett you onely know 
what cours we runned in 3 years' time. We desired them to 
lett us know their neighboring nations. They gave us the 
names, which I hope to describe their names in the end of this 
most imperfect discours, at least those that I can remember. 
Among others they told us of a nation called Nadouecero- 
non,^ which is very strong, with whome they weare in warres 
with, and another wandering nation, living onely uppon what 
they could come by. Their dwelling was on the side of the 
salt watter in summer time, and in the land in the winter time, 
for it 's cold in their country. They calle themselves Chris- 
tinos, and their confederats from all times, by reason of their 
speech, which is the same, and often have joyned together 
and have had companys of souldiers to warre against that 
great nation. We desired not to goe to the North till we had 
made a discovery in the South, being desirous to know what 
they did. They told us if we would goe with them to the 
great lake of the stinkings,^ the time was come of then- trafick, 
which was of as many knives as they could gett from the 
french nation, because of their dwellings, which was att the 
coming in of a lake called Superior, but since the destructions 
of many neighboring nations they retired themselves to the 
height of the lake. We knewed those people well. We 
went to them almost yearly, and the company that came up 
with us weare of the said nation, but never could tell punc- 
tually where they lived because they make the barre of the 
Christinos from whence they have the Castors that they 
bring to the french. This place is 600 leagues off, by reason 
of the circuit that we must doe. The hurrons and the Octa- 
nacks, from whence we came last, furnishes them also, and 
comes to the furthest part of the lake of the Stinkings, there 
to have light earthen pots, and girdles made of goat's hairs, 

^ Sioux. 

2 Green Bay, the habitat of the Winnebago (stinkards). See p. 16, ante, 
note 1. 



1658-1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 47 

and small shells^ that grow att the sea side, with which they 
trim their cloath made of skin. 

We finding this opportmiity would not lett it slippe, but 
made guifts, telling that the other nation would stand in 
feare of them because of us. We flattered them, sajdng none 
would dare to give them the least wrong, in so much that 
many of the Octanacks that weare present to make the same 
voyage. I can assure you I liked noe country as I have that 
wherein we wintered; For whatever a man could desire was 
to be had in great plenty; viz. staggs, fishes in abundance, 
and all sort of meat, come enough. Those of the 2 nations 
would not come with us, but turned back to their nation. 
We neverthelesse put ourselves in hazard, for our curiosity, of 
stay 2 or 3 years among that nation. We ventured, for that 
we understand some of their idiome and trusted to that. 

We embarked ourselves on the delightfullest lake of the 
world. I tooke notice of their Cottages and of the journeys of 
our navigation, for because that the country was so pleasant, 
so beautifuU and fruitfuU that it grieved me to see that the 
world could not discover such inticing countrys to live in. 
This I say because that the Europeans fight for a rock in the 
sea against one another, or for a sterill land and horrid coun- 
try, that the people sent heere or there by the changement of 
the aire ingenders sicknesse and dies thereof. Contrarywise 
those kingdoms are so delicious and under so temperat a cli- 
mat, plentifull of all things, the earth bringing foorth its fruit 
twice a yeare, the people live long and lusty and wise in their 
way. What conquest would that bee att litle or no cost ; 
what laborinth of pleasure should millions of people have, 
instead that millions complaine of miseiy and poverty ! 
What should not men reape out of the love of God in convert- 
ing the souls heere, is more to be gained to heaven then what 
is by differences of nothing there, should not be so many 
dangers committed under the pretence of religion ! Why so 
many thoesoever are hid from us by our owne faults, by our 
negligence, covetousnesse, and unbeliefe. It 's true, I con- 
fesse, that the accesse is difficult, but must sa}^ that we are 
like the Cockscombs of Paris, when first they begin to have 

^The original wampum was made from sea-shells, bored by the Indians. 
After the coming of French goods, porcelain beads took the place of shell wampum. 



48 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1658-1660? 

wings, imagining that the larks will fall in their mouths 
roasted ; ^ but we ought [to remember] that vertue is not ac- 
quired without labour and taking great paines. 

We meet with severall nations, all sedentary, amazed to see 
us, and weare very civil. The further we sejoumed the de- 
lightfuller the land was to us. I can say that [in] my life- 
time I never saw a more incomparable coimtry, for all I 
have ben in Italy; yett Italy comes short of it, as I think, 
when it was inhabited, and now forsaken of the wildmen. 
Being about the great sea, we conversed with people that 
dwelleth about the salt water,^ who tould us that they saw- 
some great white thing sometimes uppon the water, and came 
towards the shore, and men in the top of it, and made a noise 
like a company of swans; which made me believe that they 
weare mistaken, for I could not imagine what it could be, 
except the Spaniard ; and the reason is that we found a barill 
broken as they use in Spaine. Those people have their 
haires long. They reape twice a yeare; they are called Ta- 
targa, that is to say, buff.^ They warre against Nadouecero- 
nons, and warre also against the Christinos. These 2 doe no 
great harme to one another, because the lake is betweene 
both. They are generally stout men, that they are able to 
defend themselves. They come but once a year to fight. 
If the season of the yeare had permitted us to stay, for we 
intended to goe backe the yeare following, we had indeav- 
oured to make peace betweene them. We had not as yett 
scene the nation Nadoueceronons. We had hurrons with us. 
Wee persuaded them to come along to see their owne nation 
that fled there, but they would not by any means. We 
thought to gett some castors there to bring downe to the 
French, seeing [it] att last impossible to us to make such a 
circiiit in a twelve month's time. We weare every where 
much made of ; neither wanted victualls, for all the different 

1 The reference is to the fabled land of Cockaigne. 

2 This is supposed to mean that somewhere near Lake Superior (the great 
sea) they met Indians that had been as far as Hudson Bay and had there seen 
ships. 

3 Buffalo Indians. There is no distinct tribe with this appellation ; prob- 
ably it here refers to the Indians of the plains who hunt the buffalo and war with 
both Sioux and Cree. Some editors think it refers to the Teton branch of the 
Sioux. "Tetanka" is the Siouan word for buffalo. 



165^1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 49 

nations that we mett conducted us and furnished us with all 
necessaries. Tending to those people, went towards the 
South and came back by the north. 

The Summer passed away with admiration by the diver- 
sity of the nations that we saw, as for the beauty of the shore 
of that sweet sea. Heere we saw fishes of divers, some like 
the sturgeons and have a kind of slice att the end of their nose 
some 3 fingers broad in the end and 2 onely neere the nose, 
and some 8 thumbs long, all marbled of a blakish coUor. 
There are birds whose bills are two and 20 thumbs long. 
That bird swallows a whole salmon, keeps it a long time in 
his bill. We saw alsoe shee-goats very bigg. There is an 
animal somewhat lesse then a cow whose meat is exceeding 
good. There is no want of Staggs nor Buffes. There are so 
many Tourkeys that the boys throws stoanes att them for 
their recreation. We found no sea-serpents as we in other laks 
have scene, especially in that of d' Ontario and that of the 
stairing haires. There are some in that of the hurrons, but 
scarce, for the great cold in winter. They come not neere 
the upper lake. In that of the stairing haires I saw yong boy 
[who] was bitten. He tooke immediately his stony knife and 
with a pointed stick and cutts off the whole wound, being no 
other remedy for it. They are great sorcerors and turns the 
wheele.^ I shall speake of this at large in my last voyage. 
Most of the shores of the lake is nothing but sand. There 
are mountains to be scene farre in the land. There comes 
not so many rivers from that lake as from others ; these that 
flow from it are deeper and broader, the trees are very bigg, 
but not so thick. There is a great distance from one an- 
other, and a quantitie of all sorts of fruits, but small. The 
vines grows all by the river side ; the lemons are not so bigg 
as ours, and sowrer. The grape is very bigg, greene, is scene 
there att all times. It never snows nor freezes there, but 
mighty hot; yett for all that the country is not so unwhol- 
som, For we seldome have scene infirmed people. I will 

^ This is probably a reference to the wheel of feathers that is attached to 
the calumet, or ceremonial pipe. In the journal of his so-called fourth voyage 
Radisson in describing the calumet says : "There is tyed to it the tayle of an 
eagle all painted over with severall coulours and open like a fan, or like that makes 
a kind of a wheele when he shuts." 



50 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1658-1660? 

speake of their manners in my last voyage, which I made in 
October. 

We came to the strait of the 2 lakes of the stinkings and 
the upper lake, where there are litle i3les towards Norwest, 
Few towards the southest, very small. The lake towards 
the North att the side of it is full of rocks and sand, yett great 
shipps can ride on it without danger. We being of 3 nations 
arrived there with booty, disputed awhile. For some would 
returne to their country. That was the nation of the fire, and 
would have us backe to their dwelling. We by all means 
would know the Christinos. To goe backe was out of our 
way. We contented the hurrons to our advantage with 
promises and others with hope, and persuaded the Octonack 
to keepe his resolution, because we weare but 5 small fine 
dayes from those of late that lived in the sault of the com- 
ing in of the said upper lake, from whence that name of salt, 
which is panoestigonce in the wild language, which heerafter 
we will call the nation of the salt.^ 

Not many years smce that they had a cruell warre against 
the Nadoueseronons. Although much inferiour in numbers, 
neverthelesse that small number of the salt was a terror unto 
them, since they had trade with the French. They never 
have seene such instruments as the French furnished them 
withall. It is a proude nation, therfore would not submitt, 
although they had to doe with a bigger nation 30 times then 
they weare, because that they weare called ennemy by all 
those that have the accent of the Algonquin language, that the 
wild men call Nadoue, which is the beginning of their name. 
The Iroquoits have the title of bad ennemy, Maesocchy Na- 
doue. Now seeing that the Christinos had hattchetts and 
knives, for that they resolved to make peace with those of the 
sault, that durst not have gon hundred of leagues uppon that 
upper lake with assurance. They would not hearken to any- 
thing because their general resolved to make peace with those 
of the Christinos and an other nation that gott gunns, the 
noise of which had frighted them more then the bulletts that 
weare in them. The time approached, there came about 100 
of the nation of the Sault to those that lived towards the 
north. The christinos gott a bigger company and fought a 

* The Saulteurs or Chippewa, for whom see note 2, on p. 23, ante. 



1658-1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 51 

batail. Some weare slaine of both sids. The Captayne of 
these of the Sault lost his eye by an arrow. The batail being 
over he made a speech, and said that he lost his sight of one 
side, and of the other he foresee what he would doe ; his cour- 
age being abject by that losse, that he himself e should be am- 
bassador and conclud the peace. 

He seeing that the Iroquoits came too often, a visit I must 
confesse very displeasing, being that some [of] ours looses 
their lives or liberty, so that we retired ourselves to the 
higher lake neerer the nation of the Nadoueceronons, where 
we weare well receaved, but weare mistrusted when many 
weare scene together. We arrived then where the nation of 
the Sault was, where we found some french men that came 
up with us, who thanked us kindly for to come and visit them. 
The wild Octanaks that came with us foimd some of their na- 
tions slaves, who weare also glad to see them. For all they 
weare slaves they had meat enough, which they have not in 
their owne country so plentifull, being no huntsmen, but al- 
together Fishers. As for those towards the north, they are 
most expert in hunting, and live uppon nothing else the most 
part of the yeare. We weare long there before we gott ac- 
quaintance with those that we desired so much, and they in 
lik maner had a fervent desire to know us, as we them. Heer 
comes a company of Christinos from the bay of the North 
sea, to live more at ease in the midle of w^oods and forests, by 
reason they might trade with those of the Sault and have the 
Conveniency to kill more beasts. 

There we passed the winter and learned the particularitie 
that since wee saw by Experience. Heere I will not make a 
long discours duriag that time, onely made good cheere and 
killed staggs, Buffes, Elends, and Castors.^ The Christinos 
had sldll in that game above the rest. The snow proved 
favourable that yeare, which caused much plenty of every 
thing. Most of the woods and forests are very thick, so that 
it was in some places as darke as in a cellar, by reason of the 
boughs of trees. The snow that falls, being very light, hath 
not the strenght to stopp the eland, which is a mighty strong 
beast, much like a mule, having a tayle cutt off 2 or 3 or 4 

^ Deer, buffalo, moose, and beaver. Eland was then the Dutch name for 
the European elk. 



52 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1658-1660? 

thumbes long, the foot cloven like a stagge. He has a muzzle 
mighty bigge. I have seene some that have the nostrills so 
bigg that I putt into it my 2 fists att once with ease. Those 
that uses to be where the buffes be are not so bigg, but about 
the bignesse of a coach horse. The wildmen call them the 
litle sort. As for the Buff, it is a furious animal. One must 
have a care of him, for every yeare he kills some Nadouesero- 
nons. He comes for the most part in the plaines and meddows; 
he feeds like an ox, and the Oriniack so but seldom he galopps. 
I have seene of their homes that a man could not lift them 
from of the ground.^ They are branchy and flatt in the midle, 
of which the wildman makes dishes that can well hold 3 quarts. 
These homes fall off every yeare, and it 's a thing impossible 
that they will grow againe. The horns of Buffs are as those 
of an ox, but not so long, but bigger, and of a blackish collour ; 
he hath a very long hairy taile ; he is reddish, his haire f rized 
and very fine. All the parts of his body much [like] unto an 
ox. The biggest are bigger then any ox whatsoever. Those 
are to be found about the lake of the Stinkings and towards 
the North of the same. They come not to the upper lake but 
by chance. It 's a pleasur to find the place of their abode, 
for they tourne round about compassing 2 or 3 acres of land^ 
beating the snow with their feete, and coming to the center 
they lye downe and rise againe to eate the bows of trees that 
they can reach. They go not out of their circle that they 
have made untill hunger compells them. 

We did what we could to have correspondence with that 
warlick nation and reconcile them with the Christinos. We 
went not there that winter. Many weare slained of both 
sides the summer last. The wound was yett fresh, wherfore it 
was hard to conclude peace between them. We could doe 
nothing. For we intended to turne back to the French the 
summer following. Two years weare expired. We hoped to 
be att the 2 years end with those that gave us over for dead, 
having before to come back at a year's end. As we are once 
in those remote countreys we cannot doe as we would. Att 
last we declared our mind first to those of the Sault, encourag- 

^ This entire description applies to the moose, which Radisson calls both 
"eland" and "oriniack." The latter term is a variation of orignal, the present 
French-Canadian term for moose. 



1658-1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 53 

ing those of the North that we are their brethren, and that we 
would come back and force their enemy to peace or that we 
would help against them. We made guifts one to another, 
and thwarted a land of allmost 50 leagues before the snow 
was melted. In the morning it was a pleasur to walke, for 
we could goe without racketts.^ The snow was hard enough, 
because it freezed every night. When the sun began to shine 
we payd for the time past. The snow sticks so to our racketts 
that I believe our shoes weighed 30 pounds, which was a 
paine, having a burden uppon our backs besides. 

We arrived, some 150 of us, men and women, to a river 
side, where we stayed 3 weeks making boats. Here we 
wanted not fish. During that time we made feasts att a high 
rate. So we refreshed ourselves from our labours. In that 
time we tooke notice that the budds of trees began to spring, 
which made us to make more hast and be gone. We went up 
that river 8 dayes till we came to a nation called Poutouate- 
nick and Matouenock; that is, the scrattchers. There we 
gott some Indian meale and come from those 2 nations, which 
lasted us till we came to the first landing Isle. There we 
weare well received againe. We made guifts to the Elders to 
encourage the yong people to bring us downe to the French. 
But mightily mistaken; For they would reply, "Should you 
bring us to be killed? The Iroquoits are every where about 
the river and undoubtedly will destroy us if we goe downe, 
and afterwards our wives and those that stayed behinde. 
Be wise, brethren, and offer not to goe downe this yeare to 
the French. Lett us keepe our lives." We made many 
private suits, but all in vaine. That vexed us most that we 
had given away most of our merchandises and swapped a 
great deale for Castors. Moreover they made no great har- 
vest, being but newly there. Beside, they weare no great 
huntsmen. Our journey was broaken till the next yeare, and 
must per force. 

That summer I went a hunting, and my brother stayed 
where he was welcome and putt up a great deale of Indian 
corne that was given him. He intended to furnish the wild- 
men that weare to goe downe to the French if they had not 
enough. The wild men did not perceive this; For if they 

1 Snowshoes. 



54 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1658-1660? 

wanted any, we could hardly kept it for our use. The win- 
ter passes away in good correspondence one with another, and 
sent ambassadors to the nations that uses to goe downe to the 
french, which rejoyced them the more and made us passe that 
yeare with a greater pleasur, saving that my brother fell into 
the falling sicknesse,^ and many weare sorry for it. That 
proceeded onely of a long stay in a new discovered country, 
and the idlenesse contributs much to it. There is nothing 
comparable to exercise. It is the onely remedy of such dis- 
eases. After he languished awhile God gave him his health 
againe. 

The desire that every one had to goe downe to the French 
made them earnestly looke out for castors. They have not 
so many there as in the north part, so in the beginning of 
spring many came to our Isle. There weare no lesse, I be- 
lieve, then 500 men that weare willing to venter themselves. 
The come that my brother kept did us a world of service. 
The wildmen brought a quantity of flesh salted in a vesell. 
When we were ready to depart, heere comes Strang news of 
the defeat of the hurrons, which news, I thought, would putt off 
the voyage. There was a councell held, and most of them 
weare against the goeing downe to the French, saying that 
the Iroquoits weare to barre this yeare, and the best way was 
to stay till the following yeare. And now the ennemy, seeing 
himselfe frustrated of his expectation, would not stay longer, 
thinking thereby that we weare resolved never more to go 
downe, and that next yeare there should be a bigger com- 
pany, and better able to oppose an ennemy. My brother and 
I, seeing ourselves all out of hopes of our voyage, without our 
come, which was allready bestowed, and without any mer- 
chandise, or scarce having one knife betwixt us both, so we 
weare in a great apprehension least that the hurrons should, 
as they have done often, when the Fathers weare in their 
country, kill a frenchman. 

Seeing the equipage ready and many more that thought 
long to depart thence for marchandise, we uppon this re- 
solved to call a publique councell in the place; which the 
Elders hearing, came and advised us not to undertake it, giv- 
ing many faire words, saying, "Brethren, why are you such 

* Epilepsy. 



1658-1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 55 

ennemys to yourselves to putt yourselves in the hands of those 
that wait for you? They will destroy you and carry you 
away captives. Will you have your brethren destroyed that 
loves yoU; being slaiaed? Who then will come up and bap- 
tize our children? Stay till the next yeare, and then you 
are like to have the number of 600 men in company with you. 
Then you may freely goe without mtermission. Yee shall 
take the church along with you, and the Fathers and mothers 
will send their children to be taught in the way of truth of 
the Lord."^ Our answer was that we would speake in pub- 
lique, which granted, the day appointed is come. There 
gathered above 800 men to see who should have the glorie 
in a round. They satt downe on the ground. We desired 
silence. The elders being in the midle and we in their midle, 
my brother began to speak. "Who am I? am I a foe or a 
friend? If I am a foe, why did you suffer me to live so long 
among you ? If I am friend, and if you take so to be, hearken 
to what I shall say. You know, my uncles and brethren, 
that I hazarded my life goeing up with you; if I have no 
courage, why did you not tell me att my first coming here? 
And if you have more witt then we, why did not you use it 
by preserving your knives, your hattchetts, and your gunns, 
that you had from the French? You will see if the ennemy 
will sett upon you that you will be attraped like castors in 
a trappe; how will you defend yourselves like men that is 
not courageous to lett yourselves be catched like beasts? 
How will you defend villages ? with castors' skins ? how will you 
defend your wives and children from the ennemy 's hands ? " 

Then my brother made me stand up, saying, " Shew them 
the way to make warrs if they are able to uphold it." I 
tooke a gowne of castors' skins that one of them had uppon 
his shoulder and did beat him with it. I asked the others if I 
was a souldier. "Those are the armes that kill, and not your 
robes. What will your ennemy say when you perish without 
defending yourselves? Doe not you know the French way? 

^ Grosseilliers, who had lived among the Jesuits, seems to have had some 
idea of Christianizing these distant nations. The Jesuit Relation for 1660, de- 
scribing the return of Radisson and Grosseilliers, says : "They passed the winter 
on the shores of Lake Superior and were fortunate enough to baptize there two 
hundred little children." Jes. Rel, XLV. 235. 



56 EARLY NARRATI\^S OF THE NORTHWEST [1658-1660? 

We are used to fight with armes and not with robes. You say 
that the Iroquoits waits for you because some of your men 
weare killed. It is onely to make you stay untill you are 
quite out of stocke, that they dispatch you with ease. Doe 
you think that the French will come up here when the great- 
est part of you is slained by your owne fault? You know 
that they cannot come up without you. Shall they come to 
baptize your dead? Shall your children learne to be slaves 
among the Iroquoits for their Fathers' cowardnesse? You 
call me Iroquoit. Have not you scene me disposing my life 
with you? Who has given you your life if not the French? 
Now you will not venter because many of your confederates 
are come to visit you and venter their lives with you. If you 
will deceave them you must not think that they will come an 
other time for shy words nor desire. You have spoaken of 
it first, doe what you will. For myne owne part, I will ven- 
ter choosing to die like a man then live like a beggar. Having 
not wherewithall to defend myself e, farewell ; I have my sack 
of come ready. Take all my castors. I shall live without 
you." And then departed that company. 

They weare amazed of our proceeding; they stayed long 
before they spoake one to another. Att last sent us some 
considerable persons who bid us cheare up. "We see that 
you are in the right; the voyage is not broaken. The yong 
people tooke very ill that you have beaten them with the skin. 
All avowed to die like men and undertake the journey. You 
shall heare what the councell will ordaine the morrow. They 
are to meet privatly and you shall be called to it. Cheare up 
and speake as you have done; that is my counceU to you. 
For this you will remember me when you \\dll see me in your 
country ; For I will venter meselfe with you." Now we are 
more satisfied then the day before. We weare to use all 
rhetorique to persuade them to goe downe, For we saw the 
country languish very much, For they could not subsist, and 
moreover they weare afraid of us. The councell is called, 
but we had no need to make a speech, finding them disposed 
to make the voyage and to submitt. "Yee women gett your 
husbands' bundles ready. They goe to gett wherwithall to 
defend themselves and you alive." 

Our equipage was ready in 6 days. We embarked our- 



1658-1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 57 

selves. We weare in number about 500, all stout men. We 
had with us a great store of castors' skins. We came to the 
South. We now goe back to the north, because to overtake 
a band of men that went before to give notice to others. 
We passed the lake without dangers. We wanted nothing, 
having good store of come and netts to catch fish, which is 
plentyfuU in the rivers. We came to a place where 8 Iro- 
quoits wintered. That was the company that made a slaugh- 
ter before our departure from home. Our men repented now 
they did not goe sooner, For it might be they should have 
surprised them. 

Att last we are out of those lakes. One hides a caske of 
rneale, the other his campiron, and all that could be cumber- 
some. After many paines and labours wee arrived to the 
Sault of Columest,^ so called because of the Stones that are 
there very convenient to make tobacco pipes. We are now 
within 100 leagues of the french habitation, and hitherto no 
bad encounter. We still found tracks of men which made us 
still to have the more care and guard of ourselves. Some 30 
leagues from this place we killed wild cowes and then gott 
ourselves into cottages, where we heard some guns goe off, 
which made us putt out our fires and imbark ourselves with all 
speed. We navigated all that night. About the breake of 
day we make a stay, that not to goe through the violent 
streames for feare the Ennemy should be there to dispute the 
passage. We landed and instantly sent 2 men to know 
whether the passage was free. They weare not halfe a mile 
off when we see a boat of the ennemy thwarting the river, 
which they had not done without discovering our boats, hav- 
ing nothing to cover our boats nor hide them. Our lightest 
boats shewed themselves by pursueing the ennemy. They 
did shoot, but to no effect, which made our two men come 
back in all hast. We seeing ourselves but merchandmen, so 
we would not long follow a man of warre, because he nmned 
swifter then ours. 

We proceeded in our way with great diligence till we came 
to the carriage place, where the one halfe of our men weare 
in readinesse, whilst the other halfe carried the baggage and 
the boats. We had a great alarum, but no hurt done. We 

^ Calumet Rapids of Ottawa River. 



58 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1658-1660? 

saw but one boat, but have seene foure more going up the 
river. Methinks they thought themselves some what weake 
for us, which persuaded us [of] 2 things : 1st, that they weare 
afraid ; 2ndly, that they went to warne their company, which 
thing warned us the more to make hast. 

The 2nd day att evening after we landed and boyled an 
horiniack^ which we killed. We then see 16 boats of our 
ennemy coming. They no sooner perceived us but they went 
on the other side of the river. It was a good looke^ for us 
to have seene them. Our wildmen did not say what they 
thought, For they esteemed themselves already lost. We 
encouraged them and desired them to have courage and not 
[be] afraid, and so farr as I think we weare strong enough for 
them, that we must stoutly goe and meet them, and they 
should stand still. We should be altogether, and put our 
castors' skins upon pearches, which could keepe us from the 
shott, which we did. We had foure and 20 gunns ready, and 
gave them to the hurrons, who knewed how to handle them 
better then the others. The Iroquoits seeing us come, and 
that we weare 5 to 1, could not imagine what to doe. Never- 
thelesse they would shew their courage ; being that they must 
passe, they putt themselves in array to fight. If we had not 
ben with some hurrons that knewed the Iroquoits' tricks, I 
believe that our wild men had runned away, leaving their 
fusiques^ behind. We being neere one another, we com- 
manded that they should row with all their strength towards 
them. We kept close one to another to persecut what was 
our intent. We begin to make outcryes and sing. The 
hurrons in one side, the Algonquins att the other side, the 
Ottanak, the panoestigons, the Amickkoick, the Nadouice- 
nago, the ticacon,^ and we both encouraged them all, crj'ing 
out with a loud noise. The Iroquoits begin to shoot, but we 
made ours to goe one forwards without any shooting, and 
that it was the onely way of fighting. They indeed turned 
their backs and we followed them awhile. Then was it that 
we weare called devils, with great thanks and incouragements 
that they gave us, attributing to us the masters of warre and 

^ Moose. " Luck ' Fusees. 

* Huron, Algonkin, Ottawa, Chippewa, Beaver, Sioux, and Kiskakon (an 
Ottawa clan) Indians. 



105^1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 59 

the only Captaynes. We desired them to keepe good watch 
and sentry, and if we weare not surprized we should come 
safe and sound without hurt to the French. The Iroquoite 
seeing us goe on our way, made as if they would leave us. 

We made 3 carriages that day, where the ennemy could 
doe us mischief if they had ben there. The cuiming knaves 
followed us neverthelesse pritty close. We left 5 boats be- 
hind that weare not loaden. We did so to see what inven- 
tion our enemy could invent, knowing very well that his 
mind was to surprise us. It is enough that we are warned 
that they follow us. Att last we perceived that he was be- 
fore us, which putt us in some feare; but seeing us resolut, 
did what he could to augment his number. But we weare 
mighty vigilent and sent some to make a discovery att every 
carriage through the woods. We weare told that they weare 
in an ambush, and there builded a fort below the long Sault, 
where we weare to passe. Our wildmen said doubtlesse they 
have gott an other company of their nation, so that some 
minded to throw their castors away and retume home. We 
told them that we weare almost att the gates of the French 
habitation, and bid [them] therefore have courage, and that 
our lives weare in as great danger as theirs, and if we weare 
taken we should never escape because they knewed us, and I 
because I runned away from their country having slained 
some of their brethren,^ and my brother that long since was 
the man that furnished their enemy with arms. 

They att last weare persuaded, and landed within a mile 
of the landing place, and sent 300 men before armed. We 
made them great bucklers that the shot could not pearce in 
some places. They weare to be carryed if there had ben oc- 
casion for it. Being come neere the torrent, we finding the 
Iroquoits lying in ambush, who began to shoot. The rest of 
our company went about cutting of trees and making a fort, 
whilst some brought the boats; which being come, we left 
as few men as possible might bee. The rest helped to carry 
wood. We had about 200 men that weare gallant souldiers. 
The most weare hurrons, Pasnoestigons, and Amickkoick fre- 
quented the French for a time. The rest weare skillfull in 
their bows and arrows. The Iroquoits perceiving our device, 

^ See Introduction, ante, for Radisson's experiences among the Iroquois. 



60 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [165&-1660? 

resolved to fight by forceing them to lett us passe with our 
arms. They did not know best what to doe, being not so 
munished nor so many men above a hundred and fifty. They 
forsooke the place and retired into the fort, which was under- 
neath the rapide. We in the meane while have slained 5 of 
theirs, and not one of ours hurted, which encouraged our 
wildmen. We bid them still to have good courage, that 
we should have the victory. Wee went and made another 
fort neere theirs, where 2 of our men weare wounded but 
lightly. 

It is a horrid thing to heare [of] the enormity of out- 
cryes of those different nations. The Iroquoits sung like 
devils, and often made salleys to make us decline. They 
gott nothing by that but some arrows that did incommodat 
them to some purpose. We foresee that such a batail could 
not hold out long for want of powder, of shott and arrows; 
so by the consent of my brother and the rest, made a speech 
in the Iroquoit language, inducing meselfe with armours that 
I might not be wounded with every bullet or arrow that the 
ennemy sent perpetually. Then I spoake. "Brethren, we 
came from your country and bring you to ours, not to see 
you perish unlesse we perish with you. You know that the 
French are men, and maks forts that cannot be taken so soone 
therefore cheare upp. For we love you and will die with you." 
This being ended, nothing but howling and crj^ing. We 
brought our castors and tyed them 8 by 8, and rowled them 
before us. The Iroquoits finding that they must come out 
of their fort to the watterside, where they left their boats, to 
make use of them in case of neede, where indeed made an 
escape, leaving all their baggage behind, which was not much, 
neither had we enough to fill our bellyes with the meat that 
was left ; there weare kettles, broaken gunns, and rusty hatt- 
chetts. 

They being gone, our passage was free, so we made hast 
and endeavoured to come to our journey's end ; and to make 
the more hast, some boats went downe that swift streame 
without making any carriage, hopeing to follow the ennemy; 
but the bad lacke was that where my brother was the boat 
turned in the torrent, being seaven of them together, weare 
in great danger. For God was mercifull to give them strength 



1658-1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 61 

to save themselves, to the great admiration, for few can 
speed so well in such precipices. When they came to lande 
they cutt rocks. My brother lost his booke of annotations 
of the last yeare of our being in these foraigne nations. We 
lost never a castor, but may be some better thing. It 's 
better [that one] loose all then lose his life. 

We weare 4 moneths in our voyage without doeing any 
thing but goe from river to river. We mett severall sorts of 
people. We conversed with them, being long time in al- 
liance with them. By the persuasion of som of them we 
went into the great river that divides itselfe in 2, where the 
hurrons with some Ottanake and the wild men that had 
warrs with them had retired.^ There is not great difference 
in their language, as we weare told. This nation have warrs 
against those of [the] forked river. It is so called because it 
has 2 branches, the one towards the west, the other towards 
the South, which we believe runns towards IMexico, by the 
tokens they gave us. Being among these people, they told 
us the prisoners they take tells them that they have warrs 
against a nation, against men that build great cabbans and 
have great beards and had such knives as we have had. More- 
over they shewed a Decad of beads and guilded pearls that 
they have had from that people, which made us believe they 
weare Europeans. They shewed one of that nation that was 
taken the yeare before. We understood him not; he was 
much more tawny then they with whome we weare. His 
armes and leggs weare turned outside; that was the punish- 
ment inflicted uppon him. So they doe with them that they 
take, and kill them with clubbs and doe often eat them. 
They doe not bume their prisoners as those of the northern 
parts. 

We weare informed of that nation that live in the other 
river. These weare men of extraordinary height and bigg- 
nesse, that made us believe they had no communication 
with them. They live onely uppon Corne and Citrulles,^ 

^This paragraph is thought by some scholars to be out of place, that it 
belongs to the description of the Wisconsin territory, p. 45, ante. Others suppose 
it to be in the nature of a summary of their discovery of the Mississippi, which is 
usually thought to be indicated by the "forked river." 

* Citruelles are pumpkins, frequently raised by Indians. 



62 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1658-1660? 

which are mighty bigg. They have fish in plenty throughout 
the yeare. They have fruit as big as the heart of an Oriniak, 
which grows on vast trees which in compasse are thi'ee arme- 
full in compasse. When they see Utle men they are affraid 
and cry out, which makes many come help them. Their ar- 
rows are not of stones as ours are, but of fish boans and other 
boans that they worke greatly, as all other things. Their 
dishes are made of wood. I having seene them, could not 
but admire the curiosity of their worke. They have great 
calumetts of great stones, red and greene. They make a 
store of tobacco. They have a kind of drink that makes them 
mad for a whole day. This I have not seene, therefore you 
may believe as you please. 

When I came backe I found my brother sick, as I said be- 
fore. God gave him his health, more by his courage then 
by any good medicine. For our bodyes are not like those of 
the wildmen. To our purpose; we came backe to our car- 
riage, whilst wee endeavoured to ayde our compagnions in 
their extremity. The Iroquoits gott a great way before, not 
well satisfied to have stayed for us, having lost 7 of their 
men; 2 of them weare not nimble enough, For our bulletts 
and arrows made them stay for good and all. Seaven of our 
men weare sick, they have ben like to be drowned, and the 
other two weare wounded by the Iroquoits. 

The next day we went on without any delay or encounter. 
I give you leave if those of mont Roy all weare not overjoyed 
to see us arrived where they affirme us the pitifull conditions 
that the country was by the cruelty of these cruell barbars, 
that perpetually killed and slaughtered to the very gate of 
the French fort. All this hindered not our goeing to the 
French att the 3 rivers after we refreshed ourselves 3 dayes, 
but like to pay dearly for our bold attempt. 20 inhabitants 
came downe with us in a shawlopp. As we doubled the 
point of the river of the meddows we weare sett uppon by 
severall of the Iroquoits, but durst not come neare us, because 
of two small brasse pieces that the shalop carryed. We tyed 
our boats together and made a fort about us of castors' skins, 
which kept us from all danger. We went downe the streame 
in that posture. The ennemy left us, and did well ; for our 
wildmen weare disposed to fight, and our shaloupp could not 



1658-1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 63 

come neare them because for want of watter. We came to 
Quebecq, where we are saluted with the thundring of the 
guns and batteryes of the fort, and of the 3 shipps that weare 
then att anchor, which had gon back to france without cas- 
tors if we had not come. We weare well traited for 5 dayes. 
The Governor made guifts and sent 2 Brigantins to bring us 
to the 3 rivers, where we arrived the 2nd day of, and the 4th 
day they went away. 

That is the end of our 3 years' voyage and few months. 
After so much paine and danger God was so mercifull [as] 
to bring us back saf to our dwelling, where the one was made 
much off by his wife, the other by his friends and kindred. 
The ennemy that had discovered us in our goeing downe 
gott more company, with as many as they could to come to 
the passages, and there to waite for the retourne of those 
people, knowinge well that they could not stay there long 
because the season of the yeare was almost spent; but we 
made them by our persuasions goe downe to Quebecq, which 
proved well, For the Iroquoits thought they weare gone an- 
other way. So came the next day after our arrival] to make 
a discovery to the 3 rivers, where being perceived, there is 
care taken to receive them. 

The French cannot goe as the wildmen through the woods, 
but imbarks themselves in small boats and went along the 
river side, knowing that if the ennemy was repulsed, he would 
make his retreat to the river side. Some Algonquins weare 
then att the habitation, who for to shew their vallour dis- 
posed themselves to be the first in the poursuit of the enemy. 
Some of the strongest and nimblest French kept them com- 
pany, with an other great number of men called Ottanacks, 
so that we weare soone together by the ears. There weare 
some 300 men of the enemy that came in the space of a four- 
teen night together; but when they saw us they made use 
of their heels. We weare about 500; but the better to play 
their game, after they runned half a mile in the wood they 
turned againe, where then the batail began most furiously by 
shooting att one another. 

That uppermost nation, being not used to shooting nor 
heare such noise, began to shake off their armours, and tooke 
their bows and arrows, which indeed made [more] execution 



64 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1658-1660? 

then all the guns that they had brought. So seeing 50 Al- 
gonquins and 15 French keep to it, they resolved to stick to 
it also, which had not long lasted; For seeing that their ar- 
rows weare almost spent and they must close together, and 
that the enemy had an advantage by keeping themselves be- 
hind the trees, and we to fall uppon we must be without 
bucklers, which diminished much our company that was fore- 
most, we gave them in spight us place to retire themselves, 
which they did with all speed. Having come to the watter 
side, where their boats weare, saw the French all in a row, 
who layd in an ambush to receive them, which they had 
done if God had not ben for us ; For they, thinking that the 
enemy was att hand, mistrusted nothing to the contrary. 
The French that weare in the wood, seeing the evident danger 
where their countrymen layd, encouraged the Ottanaks, who 
tooke their armes againe and followed the enemy, who not 
feared that way arrived before the French weare apprehended, 
by good looke. 

One of the Iroquoits, thinking his boat would be seene, 
goes quickly and putts it out of sight, and discovers himselfe, 
which warned the French to hinder them to goe further uppon 
that score. Our wildmen made a stand and fell uppon them 
stoutly. The combat begins a new; they see the French 
that weare uppon the watter come neere, which renforced 
them to take their boats with all hast, and leave their booty 
behind. The few boats that the french had brought made 
that could enter but the 60 French, who weare enough. The 
wildmen neverthelesse did not goe without their prey, which 
was of three men's heads that they killed att the first fight ; 
but they left Eleven of theirs in the place, besides many more 
that weare wounded. They went straight to their countrey, 
which did a great service to the retoume of our wildmen, 
and mett with non all their journey, as we heard after- 
wards. 

They went away the next day, and we stayed att home 
att rest that yeare. My brother and I considered whether 
we should discover what we have seene or no ; and because 
we had not a full and whole discovery, which was that we have 
not ben in the bay of the north, not knowing anything but 
by report of the wild Christinos, we would make no mention 



1658-1660?] RADISSON'S THIRD JOURNEY 65 

of it for feare that those wild men should tell us a fibbe. We 
would have made a discovery of it ourselves and have an 
assurance, before we should discover anything of it. 

The ende of the Auxotacicac voyage, 
which is the third voyage. 



ADVENTURES OF NICOLAS PERROT, 
BY LA POTHERIE, 1665-1670 



INTRODUCTION 

The year 1665 is marked by the re-establishment of the 
profitable fur trade of New France with the Northwest, 
which (as we have seen in the introduction to Radisson's 
Journal, ante) had been almost destroyed by the raids of 
the hostile Iroquois. The king in that summer sent his 
famous Carignan regiment, 1400 strong, to subdue the hostile 
bands and protect the pathways of commerce. Therefore a 
great flotilla from the Upper Country appeared upon the St. 
Lawrence, bringing hundreds of tribesmen to exchange their 
furs for the iron implements and weapons of the French, and 
for the much-prized blankets and silver ornaments offered 
by the white traders. After the great fair at Montreal had 
been held, and promises had been made that the Iroquois 
should be subdued, the great fleet of canoes prepared to re- 
turn to the Upper Country, and with them went such adven- 
turous Frenchmen as the love of gain or the lure of the unknown 
tempted to endure the hardships of wilderness life. Among 
these rangers of the woods was Nicolas Perrot, who began a 
life among the Indians that was destined to continue for 
thirty-five years and make him one of the most influential 
and best-informed men of his time on Indian habits and 
history. 

Perrot had but just attained his majority when he set 
forth on his eventful voyage. The date of his arrival in 
New France is not known, but at the time of his departure 
he had acquired the Algonquian language and was versed in 
the art of winning the red men's good-will. The Jesuit Re- 
lation for 1665 speaks of a "Frenchman who went up the 
year before." This may possibly have been Perrot, but his 

69 



70 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

first recorded voyage is narrated below, when he sought the 
Potawatomi tribesmen at Green Bay. His address and in- 
fluence soon secured this important nation for the French 
aJHance, whereupon Perrot visited the other tribes in this 
locality, winning alliances, good-will, and a vast influence over 
all the Western aborigines. 

The descriptions of his adventures, although not presented 
in chronological form, appear to have covered the first five 
years (1665-1670) of Perrot's life in the Western country. 
In 1670 he visited the colony once more, where the governor 
asked him to remain in order to form part of the escort of 
Sieur de St. Lusson, who was preparing to go the next spring 
to take formal possession of all the Northwest. The record 
of the expedition forms a later division of this volume. 

After the Sault Ste. Marie pageant of 1671 we hear no more 
of Perrot's activities until 1683, when he was sent to Wis- 
consin as accredited government agent. The following year 
he led a large detachment of Indian warriors from the banks 
of the Mississippi to reinforce Governor La Barre's unfor- 
tunate expedition into the Iroquois country. He returned to 
the Northwest in the spring of 1685 as commissioned com- 
mandant for Green Bay and all its dependencies, built several 
posts on the Mississippi, discovered the presence of lead in 
southwestern Wisconsin, and finally, in 1689, at Fort St. 
Antoine upon Lake Pepin, took possession for King Louis 
of all the upper Mississippi region and the country of the 
Sioux. It was in this period that he presented to the mission 
at Green Bay the beautiful silver ostensorium, the oldest 
relic of French occupation in the West, now in the possession 
of the Wisconsin Historical Society. 

It was at the Green Bay mission that a great disaster 
overtook Perrot's fortunes, for while he was absent on Denon- 
ville's military campaign of 1687, the mission house in which 
$40,000 worth of his furs was stored was burned by hostile 



INTRODUCTION 71 

tribesmen and the means of settling with his creditors was 
lost. 

After the departm-e of Denonville and the return to Can- 
ada of Count de Front enac, in 1689, Perrot was again employed 
as government agent among the Northwestern tribes, whose 
languages and alliances he so well understood. In spite, 
however, of his ascendancy over these fierce warriors he was, 
in 1695, in great danger of being burned by the Miami, and 
was rescued just in time by the Foxes, who had always been 
his friends. He later directed his efforts toward adjusting 
local quarrels and rendering the Upper Country safe for traders 
and travellers, until the edict of 1696 recalled all comman- 
dants from the Northwest and overthrew the labor of years. 

Once more, in 1701, the services of Perrot were utilized 
as interpreter at the great peace conference held at Montreal 
between the Iroquois and the nations of the upper lakes. 
The declining years of his life seem to have been passed at 
Montreal, where he was occupied in writing his Memoire sur 
les Maeurs, Coustumes et Relligion des Sauvages de VAmerique 
Septentrionale, and where he died in 1718. 

His Memoire remained in manuscript until 1864, when it 
was edited by Rev. Jules Tailhan and published at Paris. 
An English translation appears in E. H. Blair, Indian Tribes 
of the Upper Mississippi and Region of the Great Lakes (Cleve- 
land, 1911), L 25-272. 

In addition to this Memoire Perrot apparently kept jour- 
nals of his adventures and experiences that have disappeared, 
but were extensively used by early Canadian historians. 
The one who most freely owns his debt to information from 
Perrot is La Potherie. 

Charles Claude le Roy, sieur Bacqueville de la Potherie, 
was a West Indian Creole, who had influential connections at 
the court of Louis XIV., and received official appointments 
therefrom. In 1697 he was sent with the French fleet to 



72 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

Hudson Bay, and on that voyage met Canadian adventurers 
and heroeS; notably Iberville and his brothers. The suc- 
ceeding year he was appointed to an important post in Can- 
ada, and arrived just in time to meet the great governor 
Frontenac before his death. La Potherie spent about five 
years in the colony, and was present in person at the great 
peace treaty of 1701, where all the tribes from the North and 
West gathered to negotiate and exchange prisoners with the 
Iroquois. At that assembly La Potherie and Perrot are 
known to have met, and without doubt the former secured 
from the latter both the narrative of his adventures and such 
notes and diaries as Perrot could furnish for the history La 
Potherie proposed to write. To the completion of this work 
Perrot's material contributed largely. The volumes ap- 
peared at Paris in 1716 under the title Histoire de VAmerique 
Septentrionale. It acquired some measure of popularity and 
subsequent editions appeared in 1722 and 1753. Of the four 
small volumes, the second and third appear to be almost 
wholly reproductions of the lost journals of Nicolas Perrot, 
and give much fuller descriptions of his relations to the West- 
em Indians and life among them than may be foimd in Per- 
rot's own Memoire. Miss Blair has incorporated an English 
translation of these two volumes of La Potherie in her Indian 
Tribes, as above cited. We have chosen for reproduction 
(with permission of the publishers, the Arthur H. Clark 
Company) the selection from volume I., pp. 307-339, which 
recounts Perrot's first years in Wisconsin, and describes the 
tribes as he saw them before they had been changed by the 
iufluence of white men. 



ADVENTURES OF NICOLAS PERROT, 
BY LA POTHERIE, 1665-1670 

Chapter VIII 

. . . All the Outaouak peoples^ were in alarm. While we 
were waging war with the Iroquois, those tribes who dwelt 
about Lake Huron fled for refuge to Chagouamikon,^ which 
is on Lake Superior; they came down to Montreal only 
when they wished to seU their peltries, and then, trembling. 
The trade was not yet opened with the Outaouaks. The 
name of the French people gradually became known in that 
region, and some of the French made their way into those 
places where they beHeved that they could make some profit ; 
it was a Peru for them.^ The savages could not under- 
stand why these men came so far to search for their worn-out 
beaver robes f meanwhile they admired all the wares brought 
to them by the French, which they regarded as extremely 
precious. The knives, the hatchets, the iron weapons above 
all, could not be sufficiently praised; and the guns so as- 
tonished them that they declared that there was a spirit 
within the gun, which caused the loud noise made when it 
was fired. It is a fact that an Esquimau from Cape Digue, ^ 
at 60° latitude, in the strait of Hudson Bay, displayed so 

* As explained in note 1 on p. 36, ante, the Ottawa were a specific tribe of 
Algonquian stock; but the term here employed, "all the Outouak peoples," re- 
fers to the several Algonquian tribes that dwelt in the Upper Country, such as 
the Ottawa, Chippewa, Potawatomi, Menominee, Foxes, Sauk, Mascoutin, etc. 

2 Now called Chequamegon Bay, on the northern shore of Wisconsin. 
' A reference to the immense treasure and profit secured by the Spanish 
from the native empire of Peru. 

* The beaver pelts most desired by the traders were those that had been 
worn by the Indians, since the oil they used upon their persons rendered the 
furs more supple and valuable. 

* This illustration of Esquimaux life at Cape Diggs (Digue) on Hudson Strait 
was derived from La Potherie's personal experience. See Introduction, ante. 

73 



74 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1665-1670 

much surprise to me when he saw a gode^ suddenly fall, 
covered with blood, as the result of a gunshot, that he stood 
motionless with the wonder caused by a thing which seemed 
to him so extraordinary. The Frenchmen who traded with 
the Canadian tribes were often amused at seeing those peo- 
ple in raptures of this sort. The savages often took them 
[the Frenchmen] for spirits and gods; if any tribe had some 
Frenchmen among them, that was sufficient to make them 
feel safe from any injuries by their neighbors ; and the French 
became mediators in all their quarrels. The detailed con- 
versations which I have had with many voyageurs in those 
countries have supplied me with material for my accounts 
of those peoples; all that they have told me about them 
has so uniformly agreed that I have felt obliged to give the 
public some idea of that vast region. 

Sieur Perot has best known those peoples; the gover- 
nors-general of Canada have always employed him in all their 
schemes; and his acquaintance with the savage tongues, his 
experience, and his mental ability have enabled him to make 
discoveries which gave opportunity to Monsieur de la Salle 
to push forward all those explorations in which he achieved 
so great success. It was through his agency that the Mis- 
sissippi became known.^ He rendered very important ser- 
vices to the colony, made known the glory of the king among 
those peoples, and induced them to form an alliance with 
us. On one occasion, among the Pouteouatemis, he was re- 
garded as a god. Curiosity induced him to form the ac- 
quaintance of this nation, who dwelt at the foot of the Bay 
of Puans. They had heard of the French, and their desire 
to become acquainted with them in order to secure the trade 
with them had induced these savages to go down to Montreal, 
under the guidance of a wandering Outaouak who was glad 
to conduct them thither.^ The French had been described 

* Gode is a sea-bird, probably the murre or awk, common in the North At- 
lantic and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

2 Perrot probably saw the Mississippi before La Salle had done so ; whether 
he had made it known before the voyage of Jolliet and Marquette in 1673 is 
questionable. 

' Perrot would seem to imply that he was the first Frenchman the Potawatomi 
had ever seen. Either he was ignorant of the visit of Radisson and Grosseilliers 
and other early adventurers, or he purposely magnifies his own discoveries. 



1665-1670] ADVENTURES OF NICOLAS PERROT 75 

to them as covered with hair (the savages have no beards), 
and they beheved that we were of a different species from 
other men. They were astonished to see that we were made 
hke themselves, and regarded it as a present that the sky 
and the spirits had made them in permitting one of the celes- 
tial beings to enter their land. The old men solemnly smoked 
a calumet^ and came into his presence, offering it to him as 
homage that they rendered to him. 

After he had smoked the calumet, it was presented by 
the chief to his tribesmen, who all offered it in turn to one 
another, blowing from their mouths the tobacco-smoke over 
him as if it were incense. They said to him: "Thou art 
one of the chief spirits, since thou usest iron; it is for thee 
to rule and protect all men. Praised be the Sun, who has 
instructed thee and sent thee to our country." They adored 
him as a god; they took his knives and hatchets and in- 
censed them with the tobacco-smoke from their mouths; 
and they presented to him so many kinds of food that he 
could not taste them all. "It is a spirit," they said; "these 
provisions that he has not tasted are not worthy of his lips." 
When he left the room, they insisted on carrjdng him upon 
their shoulders; the way over which he passed was made 
clear; they did [not] dare look in his face; and the women 
and children watched him from a distance. "He is a spirit," 
they said; "let us show our affection for him, and he will 
have pity on us." The savage who had introduced him to 
this tribe was, in acknowledgment thereof, treated as a cap- 
tain. Perot was careful not to receive all these acts of ado- 
ration, although, it is true, he accepted these honors so far 
as the interests of religion were not concerned. He told 
them that he was not what they thought, but only a French- 
man ; that the real Spirit who had made all had given to the 
French the knowledge of iron, and the ability to handle it 
as if it were paste. He said that that Spirit, desiring to show 
his pity for his creatures, had permitted the French nation 
to settle in their country in order to remove them from the 

^ The calumet was the sacred pipe of the Indians and was used in all forms 
of worship and negotiation. The word is supposed to be derived from the 
Norman-French "chalumet," meaning a reed. The heads of the calumets are 
made of pipestone, the stems of hollow wood, with fantastic decorations. 



76 EARLY NARRATIVES OP THE NORTHWEST [1665-1670 

blindness in which they had dwelt, as they had not known 
the true God, the author of nature, whom the French adored ; 
that, when they had established a friendship with the French, 
they would receive from the latter all possible assistance; 
and that he had come to facilitate acquaintance between 
them by the discoveries of the various tribes which he was 
making. And, as the beaver was valued by his people, he 
wished to ascertain whether there were not a good oppor- 
tunity for them to carry on trade therein. 

At that time there was war between that tribe and their 
neighbors, the Malhominis.^ The latter, while hunting with 
the Outagamis, had by mistake slain a Pouteouatemi, who 
was on his way to the Outagamis.^ The Pouteouatemis, 
incensed at this affront, deliberately tomahawked a Mal- 
homini who was among the Puans.^ In the Pouteouatemi 
village there were only women and old men, as the young 
men had gone for the first time to trade at Montreal; and 
there was reason to fear that the Malhominis would profit 
by that mischance. Perot, who was desirous of making their 
acquaintance, offered to mediate a peace between them. 
When he had arrived within half a league of the village, he 
sent a man to tell them that a Frenchman was coming to 
visit them; this news caused universal joy. All the youths 
came at once to meet him, bearing their weapons and their 
warlike adornments, all marching in file, with frightful con- 
tortions and yells; this was the most honorable reception 

^ The Menominee (Malhominis) were an important tribe of Algonquian 
people, who have, so far as known, always dwelt in Wisconsin. When first 
noticed they appear to have lived on the shore of Lake Superior, whence they 
passed southward to the northwest shore of Green Bay. Their name was de- 
rived from the wild rice which was plentiful in their habitat and formed one of 
their standard articles of food. They still live in Wisconsin, either on the Ke- 
shena reservation or on farms that have been allotted to them. Many tribal 
members have made great progress toward civilized life. 

2 Outagami was the aboriginal name for the tribe called by the French les 
Reynards, by the English the Foxes. They were recent comers in Wisconsin, 
having been driven thither by Iroquois enmity. A valiant tribe, devoted to 
their own customs, they became to New France a great source of danger in the 
eighteenth century through a series of disastrous wars. In the course of these 
they removed their habitat to the Mississippi and later to Iowa, where a portion 
of the tribe still dwells. 

' The Winnebago, for whom see p. 16, note 1, ante. 



1665-1670] ADVENTURES OF NICOLAS PERROT 77 

that they thought it possible to give him. He was not un- 
easy, but fired a gun in the air as far away as he could see 
them; this noise, which seemed to them so extraordinary, 
caused them to halt suddenly, gazing at the sun in most 
ludicrous attitudes. After he had made them understand 
that he had come not to disturb their repose, but to form an 
alliance with them, they approached him with many gesticu- 
lations. The calumet was presented to him; and, when he 
was ready to proceed to the village, one of the savages stooped 
down in order to carry Perot upon his shoulders; but his 
interpreter assured them that he had refused such honors 
among many tribes. He was escorted with assiduous atten- 
tions; they vied with one another in clearing the path, 
and in breaking off the branches of trees which hung in the 
way. The women and children, who had heard "the spirit" 
(for thus they call a gun), had fled into the woods. The men 
assembled in the cabin of the leading war chief, where they 
danced the calumet to the sound of the drum. He had them 
all assemble next day, and made them a speech in nearly 
these words : 

Men, the true Spirit who has created all men desires to put 
an end to your miseries. Your ancestors would not listen to him; 
they always followed natural impulses alone, without remembering 
that they had their being from him. He created them to live in 
peace with their fellow-men. He does not like war or disunion; 
he desires that men, to whom he has given reason, should remember 
that they all are brothers, and that they have only one God, who 
has formed them to do only his will. He has given them dominion 
over the animals, and at the same time has forbidden them to make 
any attacks on one another. He has given the Frenchmen iron, 
in order to distribute it among those peoples who have not the use 
of it, if they are willing to live as men, and not as beasts. He is 
angry that you are at war with the Pouteouatemis; even though it 
seemed that they had a right to avenge themselves on your young 
man who was among the Puans, God is nevertheless offended at 
them, for he forbids vengeance, and commands union and peace. 
The sun has never been very bright on your horizon; you have al- 
ways been wrapped in the shadows of a dark and miserable ex- 
istence, never having enjoyed the true light of day, as the French 
do. Here is a gun, which I place before you to defend you from 
those who may attack you; if you have enemies, it will cause them 



78 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1665-1670 

terror. Here Is a porcelain collar/ by which I bind you to my body; 
what will you have to fear, if you unite yourselves to us, who make 
guns and hatchets, and who knead iron as you do pitch? I have 
united myself with the Pouteouatemis, on whom you are planning 
to make war. I have come to embrace all the men whom Onontio,* 
the chief of all the French who have settled in this country, has 
told me to join together, in order to take them under his protection. 
Would you refuse his support, and kill one another when he desires 
to establish peace between you? The Pouteouatemis are expecting 
many articles suited to war from the hands of Onontio. You have 
been so evenly matched [with them; but now] would you abandon 
your families to the mercy of their [fire] arms, and be at war with 
them against the will of the French? I come to make the dis- 
covery of [new] tribes, only to return here with my brothers,' who 
will come with me among those people who are willing to unite 
themselves to us. Could you hunt in peace if we give [weapons of] 
iron to those who furnish us beaver-skins? You are angry against 
the Pouteouatemis, whom you regard as your enemies, but they 
are in much greater number than you; and I am much afraid that the 
prairie people * will at the same time form a league against you. 

The father of the Malhomini who had been murdered 
by the Pouteouatemis arose and took the collar that Perot 
had given him; he Hghted his calumet, and presented it to 
him, and then gave it to the chief and all who were present, 
who smoked it in turn; then he began to sing, holding the 
calumet in one hand, and the collar in the other. He went 
out of the cabin while he sang, and, presenting the calumet 
and collar toward the sun, he walked sometimes backwards, 
sometimes forward; he made the circuit of his own cabin, 
went past a great number of those in the village, and finally 
returned to that of the chief. There he declared that he at- 
tached himself wholly to the French; that he believed in 
the living Spirit, who had, in behalf of all the spirits, domi- 
nation over all other men who were inferior to him ; that all 

* A belt of wampum, called by the French porcelaine. 

' Onontio was the title given by the tribesmen to the governor of New 
France ; sometimes this term was used to refer to the king, who was called the 
-'Great Onontio." The governor at this time was Daniel de Remy, sieur de 
Courcelles. 

* Brothers is used figuratively, denoting other Frenchmen. 

* Probably the Mascoutin, for whom see note 2 on p. 45, ante. 



1665-1670] ADVENTURES OF NICOLAS PERROT 79 

his tribe had the same sentiments ; and that they asked only 
the protection of the French, from whom they hoped for life 
and for obtaining all that is necessary to man. 

The Pouteouatemis were very impatient to learn the fate 
of their people who had gone trading to Montreal; they 
feared that the French might treat them badly, or that they 
would be defeated by the Iroquois. Accordingly, they had 
recourse to Perot's guide, who was a master juggler. That 
false prophet built himself a little tower of poles, and therein 
chanted several songs, through which he invoked all the 
infernal spirits to tell him where the Pouteouatemis were. 
The reply was that they were at the Oulamanistik River, ^ 
which is three days' journey from their village ; that they had 
been well received by the French ; and that they were bring- 
ing a large supply of merchandise. This oracle would have 
been believed if Perot, who knew that his interpreter had 
played the juggler, had not declared that he was a liar. The 
latter came to Perot, and heaped upon him loud reproaches, 
complaining that he did not at all realize what hardships his 
interpreter had encountered in this voyage, and that it was 
Perot's fault that he had not been recompensed for his pre- 
diction. The old men begged that Perot himself would re- 
lieve them from their anxiety. After telling them that such 
knowledge belonged only to God, he made a calculation, 
from the day of their departure, of the stay that they would 
probably make at Montreal, and of the time when their re- 
turn might be expected; and determined very nearly the 
time when they could reach home. Fifteen days later, a 
man fishing for sturgeon came to the village in great fright, 
to warn them that he had seen a canoe, from which several 
gunshots had proceeded ; this was enough to make them be- 
lieve that the Iroquois were coming against them. Disorder 
prevailed throughout the village; they were ready to flee 
into the woods or to shut themselves into their fort. There 
was no probability that these were Iroquois, who usually 
make their attacks by stealth; Perot conjectured that they 
were probably their own men, who were thus displaying their 
joy as they came near the village. In fact, a young man 

1 Manistique River, a tributary of Green Bay in the Upper Peninsula of 
Michigan. 



so EARLY NARRATI^^S OF THE NORTH\\TST [1665-1670 

who had been sent out as a scout came back, in breathless 
haste, and reported that it was their own. people who were 
returning. If their terror had caused general consterna- 
tion, this good news caused no less joy throughout the \'il- 
lage. Two chiefs, who had seen Perot blow into his gun 
at the time of the first alarm, came to let him know of the 
arrival of their people, and begged him alwa3's to consult 
his gun. All were eager to receive the fleet. As they ap- 
proached, the new-comers discharged a salvo of musketrj^ 
followed by shouts and yells, and continued their firing as 
they came toward the ^^llage. ^ATien they were two or three 
hundred paces from the shore, the chief rose in his canoe 
and harangued the old men who stood at the water's edge ; 
he gave an account of the favorable reception which had 
been accorded them at Montreal. An old man informed 
them, meanwhile praising the sk}' and the sun who had thus 
favored them, that there was a Frenchman in the \'illage who 
had protected them in several times of danger; at this, the 
Pouteouatemis suddenly flung themselves into the water, 
to show their joy at so pleasing an occm'rence. They had 
taken pleasure m painting themselves in a verj^ pecuhar man- 
ner; and the French garments, which had been intended to 
make them more comfortable, disfigured them in a ludicrous 
fashion. They carried Perot vrith. them, whether or no he 
would, in a scarlet blanket (Monsieur de la Salle was also 
honored \\-ith a like triumph at Huron Island), and made 
him go around the fort, while they marched in double files in 
front and behind him, with guns over their shoulders, often 
firing voUeys. This cortege arrived at the cabin of the chief 
who had led the band, where all the old men were assembled ; 
and a great feast of sturgeon was served. This chief then 
related a more detailed account of his voyage, and gave a 
ver}' correct idea of French usages. He described how the 
trade was carried on ; he spoke ^-ith enthusiasm of what he 
had seen m the houses, especially of the cooking; and he 
did not forget to exalt Onontio, who had called them his chil- 
dren and had regaled them ^dth bread, prunes, and raisins, 
which seemed to them great delicacies. 



1665-1670] ADVENTURES OF NICOLAS PERROT 81 



Ch.\pter IX. 

Those peoples were so delighted with the alliance that 
they had just made that they sent deputies in every direc- 
tion to inform the Islinois, Miamis, Outagamis, Maskoutechs, 
and Kikabous that they had been at Montreal, whence they 
had brought much merchandise; they besought those tribes 
to visit them and bring them beavers. Those tribes were 
too far away to profit by this at first ; only the Outagamis 
came to estabhsh themselves for the Tsinter at a place thirty 
leagues from the bay/ in order to share in the benefit of the 
goods which they could obtain from the Pouteouatemis. 
Their hope that some Frenchmen would come from Chagoua- 
mikon induced them to accumulate as many beavers as pos- 
sible. The Pouteouatemis took the southern part of the bay, 
the Sakis- the northern; the Puans, as they could not fish, 
had gone into the woods to live on deer and bears. AMien 
the Outagamis had formed a ^^llage of more than six hun- 
dred cabins, they sent to the Sakis, at the beginning of spring, 
to let them know of the new establishment that they had 
formed. The latter sent them some chiefs, with presents, 
to ask them to remain in this new settlement ; they were 
accompanied by some Frenchmen. They found a large 
%allage, but destitute of ever}i;hing. Those people had only 
five or six hatchets, which had no edge, and they used these, 
by turns, for cutting their wood ; they had hardly one knife 
or one bodkin to a cabin, and cut their meat ^ith the stones 
which they used for arrows; and they scaled their fish with 
mussel-shells. Want rendered them so hideous that they 
aroused compassion. Although their bodies were large, 

^ This was probably the \Tllage where the Jesuit missionaries first found 
the Outagami or Foxes. Its exact location is not known, but it is beheved to 
have been on Wolf River, somewhere in Waupaca or Outagami CountA-, Wis- 
consin. 

' The Sauk tribe was closely allied to the Foxes, but preser\"ed a separate 
tribal existence until about 1733, when the two united and have since been known 
as Sauk and Foxes. The chief Sauk village was first at Green Bay, then on the 
Wisconsin near the present Sauk City, thence removed to the mouth of Rock 
River. The Sauk war under the chief Black Hawk occurred in 1S32 ; at its close 
the tribe was removed beyond the Mississippi 



82 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1665-1670 

they seemed deformed in shape; they had veiy disagree- 
able faces, brutish voices, and evil aspects. They were con- 
tinually begging from our Frenchmen who went among them, 
for those savages imagined that whatever their visitors pos- 
sessed ought to be given to them gratis ; everything aroused 
their desires, and yet they had few beavers to sell. The 
French thought it prudent to leave to the Sakis for the winter 
the trade in peltries with the Outagamis, as they could carry 
it on with the former more quietly in the autumn. 

All the tribes at the bay went to their villages after the 
winter, to sow their grain. A dispute occurred between 
two Frenchmen and an old man, who was one of the leading 
men among the Pouteouatemis ; the former demanded pay- 
ment for the goods, but he did not show much inclination to 
pay; sharp words arose on both sides, and they came to 
blows. The Frenchmen were vigorously attacked by the 
savages, and a third man came to the aid of his comrades. 
The confusion increased; that Frenchman tore the pendants 
from the ears of a savage, and gave him a blow in the belly 
which felled him so rudely that with difficulty could he rise 
again. At the same time the Frenchman received a blow 
from a war-club on his head, which caused him to fall motion- 
less. There were great disputes among the savages in re- 
gard to the Frenchman who had just been wounded, who had 
rendered many services to the village. There were three 
families interested in this contention — those of the Red 
Carp, of the Black Carp, and of the Bear.^ The head of 
the Bear family — an intimate friend of the Frenchman, and 
whose son-in-law was the chief of the Sakis — seized a hatchet 
and declared that he would perish with the Frenchman, 
whom the people of the Red Carp had slain. The Saki 
chief, hearing the voice of his father-in-law, called his own 
men to arms ; the Bear family did the same ; and the woimded 
Frenchman began to recover consciousness. He calmed the 
Sakis, who were greatly enraged; but the savage who had 

1 Indian clans were designated by some natural object, usually some ani- 
mal. The clan was an intermediate organization between the single family and 
the tribe; it took its inheritance through the mother, and persons of the same 
clan were not permitted to marry. The animal or tutelary being was worshipped 
in common by all the group. 



1665-1670] ADVENTURES OF NICOLAS PERROT 83 

maltreated him was compelled to abandon the village. These 
same Frenchmen's lives were in danger on still another oc- 
casion. One of them, who was amusing himself with some 
arrows, told a Saki who was bathing at the water's edge to 
ward off the shaft that he was going to let fly at him. The 
savage, who held a small piece of cloth, told him to shoot; 
but he was not adroit enough to avoid the arrow, which 
wounded him in the shoulder. He immediately called out 
that the Frenchman had slain him ; but another Frenchman 
hastened to the savage, made him enter his cabin, and drew 
out the arrow. He was pacified by giving him a knife, a little 
vermilion to paint his face, and a piece of tobacco. This 
present was effectual; for when, at the Saki's cry, several 
of his comrades came, ready to avenge him on the spot, the 
wounded man cried, "What are you about? I am healed. 
Metaminens" (which means "little Indian com" — ^this name 
they had given to the Frenchman, who was Perot himself) 
"has tied my hands by this ointment which you see upon my 
wound, and I have no more anger," at the same time show- 
ing the present that Perot had given him. This presence of 
mind checked the disturbance that was about to arise. 

The Miamis, the Maskoutechs, the Kikabous, and fifteen 
cabins of Islinois came toward the bay in the following sum- 
mer, and made their clearings thirty miles away, beside the 
Outagamis, toward the south. These peoples, for whom the 
Iroquois were looking, had gone southward along the Mis- 
sissippi after the combat which I have mentioned.^ Before 
that flight, they had seen knives and hatchets in the hands 
of the Hurons who had had dealings with the French, which 
induced them to associate them.selves with the tribes who 
already had some union with us. They are very sportive 
when among their own people, but grave before strangers; 
well built; lacking in intelligence, and dull of apprehension; 
easily persuaded; vain in language and behavior, and ex- 
tremely selfish. They consider themselves much braver 
than their neighbors; they are great liars, employing every 
kind of baseness to accomplish their ends; but they are in- 
dustrious, indefatigable, and excellent pedestrians. For this 

^This refers to a prehistoric enmity between the Winnebago and Illinois 
described by La Potherie in an earlier chapter. 



84 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1665-1670 

last reason, they are called Metousceprinioueks, which in their 
language means "Walkers." 

After they had planted their fields in this new settlement, 
they went to hunt cattle. They wished to entertain the 
people at the bay ; so they sent envoys to ask the Pouteoua- 
temis to visit them, and to bring the Frenchmen, if they were 
stni with them. But those savages were careful not to let 
their guests know how desirous their neighbors were to be- 
come acquainted with the French ; so they went away with- 
out telling the latter, and came back at the end of a fort- 
night, loaded with meat and grease. With them were some 
of those new settlers, who were greatly surprised to see the 
French — whom they reproached for not having come to visit 
them with the Pouteouatemis. The French saw plainly that 
the latter were jealous, and they recognized the importance of 
becoming acquainted with those peoples, who had come to 
the bay on purpose to trade more conveniently with us. The 
Pouteouatemis, when they saw that the French desired to go 
away with a Miami and a Maskoutech, made representations 
to them that there were no beavers among those people — 
who, moreover, were very boorish — and even that they were 
in great danger of being plundered. The French took their 
departure, notwithstanding these tales, and in five days 
reached the vicinity of the village.^ The Maskoutech sent 
ahead the Miami, who had a gun, with orders to fire it when 
he arrived there ; the report of the gun was heard soon after- 
ward. Hardly had they reached the shore when a venerable 
old man appeared, and a woman carrying a bag in which was 
a clay pot filled with cornmeal porridge. More than two 
hundred stout young men came upon the scene ; their hair was 
adorned with headdresses of various sorts, and their bodies 
were covered with tattooing in black, representing many 
kinds of figures; they carried arrows and war-clubs, and 
wore girdles and leggings of braided work. The old man held 
in his hand a calumet of red stone, with a long stick at the 
end ; this was ornamented in its whole length with the heads 
of birds, flame-colored, and had in the middle a bunch of 
feathers colored a bright red, which resembled a great fan. 

1 This village site has been identified near the town of Berlin, Wisconsin, 
on the upper Fox River. 



1665-1670] ADVENTURES OF NICOLAS PERROT 85 

As soon as he espied the leader of the Frenchmen, he pre- 
sented to him the calumet, on the side next to the sun ; and 
uttered words which were apparently addressed to all the 
spirits whom those peoples adore. The old man held it some- 
times toward the east, and sometimes toward the west; 
then toward the sim ; now he would stick the end in the ground 
and then he would turn the calumet around him, looking 
at it as if he were trjdng to point out the whole earth, with 
expressions which gave the Frenchman to understand that 
he had compassion on all men. Then he rubbed with his 
hands Perot's head, back, legs, and feet, and sometimes his 
own body. This welcome lasted a long time, during which 
the old man made a harangue, after the fashion of a prayer, 
all to assure the Frenchman of the joy which all in the village 
felt at his arrival. 

One of the men spread upon the grass a large painted 
ox-skin,i the hair on which was as soft as silk, on which he 
and his comrade were made to sit. The old man struck two 
pieces of wood together, to obtain fire from it ; but as it was 
wet he could not light it. The Frenchman drew forth his 
own fire-steel, and immediately made fire with tinder. The 
old man uttered loud exclamations about the iron, which 
seemed to him a spirit; the calumet was lighted, and each 
man smoked; then they must eat porridge and dried meat, 
and suck the juice of the green com. Again the calumet 
was filled, and those who smoked blew the tobacco-smoke 
into the Frenchman's face, as the greatest honor that they 
could render him; he saw himself smoked like meat, but 
said not a word. This ceremony ended, a skin was spread 
for the Frenchman's comrade. The savages thought that 
it was their duty to carry the French guests ; but the latter 
informed the Maskoutechs that, as they could shape the iron, 
they had strength to walk, so they were left at liberty. On 
the way, they rested again, and the same honors were paid 
to him as at the first meeting. Continuing their route, they 
halted near a high hill, at the summit of which was the vil- 
lage; they made their fourth halt here, and the ceremonies 
were repeated. The great chief of the Miamis came to meet 
them, at the head of more than three thousand men, accom- 

* A buffalo robe ; the French called buffaloes oxen or wild cattle. 



86 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1666-1670 

panied by the chiefs of other tribes who formed part of the 
village. Each of these chiefs had a calumet, as handsome 
as that of the old man; they were entirely naked, wearing 
only shoes, which were artistically embroidered like buskins; 
they sang, as they approached, the calumet song, which they 
uttered in cadence. When they reached the Frenchmen, 
they continued their songs, meanwhile bending their knees, 
in turn, almost to the gromid. They presented the calumet 
to the sun, with the same genuflexions, and then they came 
back to the principal Frenchman, with many gesticulations. 
Some played upon instruments the calumet songs, and others 
sang them, holding the calumet in the mouth without light- 
ing it. A war chief raised Perot upon his shoulders, and, 
accompanied by all the musicians, conducted him to the 
village. The Muskoutech who had been his guide offered 
him to the Miamis, to be lodged among them ; they very ami- 
ably declined, being unwilling to deprive the Maskoutechs 
of the pleasure of possessing a Frenchman who had con- 
sented to come under their auspices. At last he was taken 
to the cabin of the chief of the Maskoutechs ; as he entered, 
the lighted calumet was presented to him, which he smoked ; 
and fifty guardsmen were provided for him, who prevented 
the crowd from annoying him. A grand repast was served, 
the various courses of which reminded one of feeding-troughs 
rather than dishes; the food was seasoned with the fat of 
the wild ox. The guards took good care that provisions should 
be brought often, for they profited thereby. 

On the next day, the Frenchman gave them, as presents, 
a gun and a kettle; and made them the following speech, 
which was suited to their character : 

Men, I admire your youths; although they have since their 
birth seen only shadows, they seem to me as fine-looking as those 
who are born in regions where the sun always displays his glory. 
I would not have believed that the earth, the mother of all men, 
could have furnished you the means of subsistence when you did 
not possess the light of the Frenchman, who supplies its influences 
to many peoples; I believe that you will become another nation 
when you become acquainted with him. I am the dawn of that 
light, which is beginning to appear in your lands, as it were, that 
which precedes the sun, who will soon shine brightly and will cause 
you to be born again, as if in another land, where you will find. 



1G65-1670] ADVENTURES OF NICOLAS PERROT 87 

more easily and In greater abundance, all that can be necessary 
to man. I see this fine village filled with young men, who are, I 
am sure, as courageous as they are well built; and who will, without 
doubt, not fear their enemies if they carry French weapons. It 
is for these young men that I leave my gun, which they must regard 
as the pledge of my esteem for their valor; they must use it if they 
are attacked. It will also be more satisfactory in hunting cattle 
and other animals than are all the arrows that you use. To you 
who are old men I leave my kettle; I carry it everywhere without 
fear of breaking it. You will cook in it the meat that your young 
men bring from the chase, and the food which you offer to the 
Frenchmen who come to visit you. 

He tossed a dozen awls and knives to the women, and 
said to them : "Throw aside your bone bodkins ; these French 
awls will be much easier to use. These knives will be more 
useful to you in killing beavers and in cutting your meat 
than are the pieces of stone that you use." Then, throwing 
to them some rassade:^ "See; these will better adorn your 
children and girls than do their usual ornaments," The 
Miamis said, by way of excuse for not having any beaver- 
skins, that they had until then roasted those animals. 

That alliance began, therefore, through the agency of 
Sieur Perot. A week later the savages made a solemn feast, 
to thank the sun for having conducted hkn to their village. 
In the cabin of the great chief of the Miamis an altar had 
been erected, on which he had caused to be placed a Pindi- 
ikosan. This is a warrior's pouch, filled with medicinal herbs 
wrapped in the skins of animals, the rarest that they can 
find; it usually contains all that inspires their dreams.^ 
Perot, who did not approve this altar, told the great chief 
that he adored a God who forbade him to eat things sacrificed 
to evil spirits or to the skins of animals. They were greatly 
surprised at this, and asked if he would eat provided they 
shut up their Manitous;^ this he consented to do. The 
chief begged Perot to consecrate him to his Spirit, whom he 

* A French term for the ordinary round beads of glass or porcelain, which 
soon superseded the Indians' bone and shell ornaments. 

'The common "medicine-bag" of the North American Indian, containing 
objects of his veneration, is well described by Perrot. 

' Manitou was the Algonquian term for spirit ; in this instance it was ap- 
plied to the medicine-bag which was supposed to be the abode of the personal 
god of each owner. 



88 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTITW'EST [1665-1670 

would thenceforth acknowledge; he said that he would pre- 
fer that Spirit to his own, who had not taught them to make 
hatchetS; kettles, and all else that men need; and he hoped 
that by adoring him they would obtain all the knowledge 
that the French had. This chief governed his people as a 
sort of sovereign; he had his guards, and whatever he said 
or ordered was regarded as law.^ 

The Pouteouatemis, jealous that the French had found 
the way to the Miamis, secretly sent a slave to the latter, 
who said many unkind things about the French; he said 
that the Pouteouatemis held them in the utmost contempt, 
and regarded them as dogs. The French, who had heard 
all these abusive remarks, put him into a condition where he 
could say no more outrageous things; the Miamis regarded 
the spectacle with great tranquillity. When it was time to 
return to the bay, the chiefs sent all their young men to es- 
cort the Frenchmen thither, and made them many presents. 
The Pouteouatemis, having learned of the Frenchman's ar- 
rival, came to assure him of the interest they felt in his safe 
return, and were very impatient to know whether the tribes 
from whom he had come had treated him well. But when 
they heard the reproaches which he uttered for their sending 
a slave who had said most ungenerous things regarding the 
French nation, they attempted to make an explanation of 
their conduct, but fully justified the poor opinion which he 
already had of them. The savages have this characteristic, 
that they find a way to free themselves from blame in any 
evil undertaking, or to make it succeed without seeming to 
have taken part in it. 

Chapter X. 

It was for the interest of the Pouteouatemis to keep on 
good terms with the French; and they had been too well 
received at Montreal not to return thither. Indeed, after 
having presented to Perot a bag of Indian corn, that he 
might, they said, "eat and swallow the suspicion that he 

^ The position of a chief among the Miami was unusually prominent for 
North American Indians, The Jesuit missionaries represent the great Miami 
chief as having more influence and being attended with more guards and sur- 
rounded with more ceremony than the chief of any other tribe in the Northwest. 



1665-1670] ADVENTURES OF NICOLAS PERROT 89 

felt toward them," and five beaver robes to serve as an emetic 
for the ill-will and vengeance which he might retain in his 
heart, they sent some of their people on a journey to Mon- 
treal. When they came in sight of Michilimakinak, which 
then was frequented only by them and the Iroquois, they 
perceived smoke. While they were trying to ascertain what 
this meant, they encountered two Iroquois, and saw another 
canoe off shore. Each party was alarmed at the other; as 
for the Iroquois, they took to flight, while the Pouteouatemis, 
plying their paddles against contraiy winds, fled to their 
own village; they felt an extraordinary anxiety, for they 
knew not what measures to take for protection against the 
Iroquois. All the peoples of the bay experienced the same 
perplexity. Their terror was greatly increased when, a fort- 
night later, they saw large fires on the other shore of the bay, 
and heard many gun-shots. As a climax to their fears, the 
scouts whom they had sent out brought back the news that 
they had seen at night many canoes made in Iroquois fashion, 
in one of which was a gun, and a blanket of Iroquois ma- 
terial ; and some men, who were sleeping by a fire. All those 
canoes came in sight the next morning, and each one fled, 
at the top of his speed, into the forest ; only the most coura- 
geous took the risk of awaiting, with resolute air, the Iroquois 
in their fort, where they had good firearms. As we were at 
peace with the Iroquois, some of the bolder spirits among 
our Frenchmen offered to go to meet that so-called army, 
in order to learn the motive which could have impelled them 
to come to wage war against the allies of Onontio. They 
were greatly surprised to find that it was a fleet of Outaouaks, 
who had come to trade; these people had, whfle travelling 
across the country, built some canoes which resembled those 
of the Iroquois. The men whom the Pouteouatemis had seen 
at Michilimakinak were really Iroquois ; but they had feared 
falling into the hands of the Pouteouatemis quite as much 
as the latter had feared them. The Iroquois, while fleeing, 
fell into an ambuscade of forty Sauteurs, who carried them 
away to the Sauteur village; they had come from a raid 
against the Chaouanons^ near Carolina, and had brought 

1 Chaouanon was the French word for the Shawnee, an important Algon- 
quian tribe, whose name means "Southerners." When first known to whites 



90 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1665-1670 

with them a captive from that tribe, whom they were going 
to burn. The Sauteurs set him at Hberty, and enabled him 
to return to the bay by entrusting him to the Sakis. This 
man gave them marvellous notions of the South Sea, from 
which his village was distant only five days' journey — near 
a great river which, coming from the Islinois, discharges its 
waters into that sea. The tribes of the bay sent him home 
with much merchandise, urging him to persuade his tribes- 
men to come and visit them. 

These peoples held several coimcils, to deliberate whether 
they should go down to Montreal; they hesitated at first, 
because they had so few beavers. As the savages give every- 
thing to their mouths, they preferred to devote themselves 
to huntmg such wild beasts as could furnish subsistence for 
their families, rather than seek beavers, of which there were 
not enough; they preferred the needs of life to those of the 
state. Nevertheless, they reflected that if they allowed the 
Frenclimen to go away without themselves going down to 
trade, it might happen that the latter would thereafter at- 
tach themselves to some other tribes ; or, if they should after- 
ward go to Montreal, the governor would feel resentment 
against them because they had not escorted these French- 
men thither. They decided that they would go with the 
Frenchmen; preparations for this were accordingly made, 
and a solemn feast was held ; and on the eve of their depar- 
ture a volley of musketry was fired in the village. Three men 
sang incessantly, all night long, in a cabin, invoking their 
spirits from time to time. They began with the song of 
Michabous;^ then they came to that of the god of lakes, 
rivers, and forests, begging the winds, the thunder, the storms, 
and the tempests to be favorable to them during the voyage. 
The next day, the crier went through the village, inviting 
the men to the cabin where the feast was to be prepared. 
They found no difficulty in going thither, each furnished 

they were residing in Tennessee on the Cumberland River. Later they gathered 
in southern Ohio, where they formed the most intractable barrier to American 
advance. Tecumseh was a Shawnee chief, and his tribe opposed the Americans 
until the close of the War of 1812. They were removed, first to Missouri, 
later to Oklahoma. 

^ "Michabous" is one form of the name of the Great Spirit, which all 
Indian tribesmen invoke as their highest deity. 



1665-1670] ADVENTURES OF NICOLAS PERROT 91 

with his Ouragan and Mikouen.^ The three musicians of 
the previous night began to sing ; one was placed at the en- 
trance of the cabin, another in the middle, and the third at 
its end ; they were armed with quivers, bows, and arrows, and 
their faces and entire bodies were blackened with coal. While 
the people sat in this assembly, ui the utmost quiet, twenty 
young men — entirely naked, elaborately painted, and wearing 
girdles of otter-skin, to which were attached the skins of 
crows, with their plumage, and gourds — ^lifted from the fires 
ten great kettles ; then the singing ceased. The first of these 
actors next sang his war-song, keeping time with it in a dance 
from one end to the other of the cabin, while all the sav- 
ages cried in deep guttural tones, "Hay, hay!" When the 
musician ended, all the others uttered a loud yell, in which 
their voices gradually died away, much as a loud noise dis- 
appears among the mountains. Then the second and the 
third musicians repeated, in turn, the same performance; 
and, in a word, nearly all the savages did the same, in alter- 
nation — each singing his own song, but no one venturing to 
repeat that of another, unless he were willing deliberately to 
offend the one who had composed the song, or unless the 
latter were dead (in order to exalt, as it were, the dead man's 
name by appropriating his song). During this, their looks 
were accompanied with gestures and violent movements; 
and some of them took hatchets, with which they pretended 
to strike the women and children who were watching them. 
Some took firebrands, which they tossed about everywhere; 
others filled their dishes with red-hot coals, which they threw 
at each other. It is difficult to make the reader understand 
the details of feasts of this sort, unless he has himself seen 
them. I was present at a like entertainment among the 
Iroquois at the Sault of Montreal,^ and it seemed as if I 
were in the midst of hell. After most of those who had been 
invited to this pleasant festival had sung, the chief of the 

1 Dish and spoon ; it was customary for each guest at the feast to come pro- 
vided with his own utensils. 

* A mission colony of Iroquois was established at Sault St. Louis or the 
village of Caughnawaga, on the south bank of the St. Lawrence not far from 
Montreal. La Potherie is comparing Perrot's account of the feast among the 
Miami with one he has himself witnessed. 



92 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1665-1670 

feast, who had given the dance, sang a second time ; and he 
said at the end of his song (which he improvised) that he was 
going to Montreal with the Frenchmen, and was on that 
account offering these prayers to their God, entreating him 
to be propitious to him on the voyage, and to render him ac- 
ceptable to the French nation. The young men who had 
taken off the kettles took all the dishes, which they filled 
with food, while the three chanters repeated their first songs, 
not finishing their concert until everything had been eaten 
— a feat which did not take long to accomplish. An old man 
arose and congratulated, in the most affable manner, the chief 
of the feast on the project which he had formed, and encour- 
aged the young men to follow him. All those who wished to 
go on the voyage laid down a stick ; there were enough people 
to man thirty canoes. At the Sault,^ they joined seventy 
other canoes, of various tribes, all of whom formed a single 
fleet. 

1 Sault Ste. Marie. 



FATHER ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE 
SUPERIOR, 1665-1667 



INTRODUCTION 

The Jesuit missions to the Western tribes that had be- 
gun so auspiciously in the eariy years of the seventeenth 
century were completely wrecked in the middle of the cen- 
tury (1649) by the hostile incursions of the Iroquois, and the 
death or flight of the Indian neophytes. The tribes that 
had dwelt on the shores of Lake Huron, the islands of Geor- 
gian Bay, and the lower peninsula of Michigan fled like leaves 
before a northern blast and sought refuge on the distant 
shores of Lake Superior, or hid themselves in the dense forests 
of northwestern Wisconsin. Driven from their former habi- 
tats, lurking in hidden coverts of the woods, the renmant of 
the Huron tribes and their Algonquian neighbors wandered 
through the northern wilderness, stopping here and there 
as chance brought them respite to build temporary villages 
or raise an occasional crop of corn. 

The Jesuit fathers, of whom some had suffered martyr- 
dom with their Huron converts, and others had fled to the 
settled parts of the colony, sought in vain for more than a 
decade to re-establish their ruined missions. In 1654 Father 
Leonard Garreau courageously set forth from Montreal to 
accompany an Algonquian fleet to the western country; 
but only a short distance up the Ottawa River he fell into 
an Iroquois ambuscade and was killed. Father Ren6 Me- 
nard, a refugee from the Huron mission, succeeded in 1660 in 
reaching the shores of Lake Superior, where, after wintering 
in a wretched hut at the bottom of Keweenaw Bay, he started 
in the early summer of 1661 to visit some refugee Huron upon 
the headwaters of Black River. Somewhere upon the Wis- 

95 



96 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

consin River he was lost in the dense woods, and his fate was 
never known. 

Jean Claude Allouez, unterrified by the martyrdom of 
these early apostles to the Northwestern tribes, accompanied 
the returning fleet of 1665, somewhere in which was the 
trader and explorer Nicolas Perrot. At the Sault they parted 
company, and Allouez after skirting the shores of Lake Su- 
perior finally arrived at the Ottawa village on Chequamegon 
Bay, where he founded the mission of the Holy Spirit. 

Even as a youth in his home in southern France, Allouez 
had ardently longed to seek the mission fields in foreign 
lands; great had been his joy, therefore, when he had been 
assigned by the superiors of his order to work upon the dis- 
tant banks of the St. Lawrence. There seven years had been 
passed in acquiring the Algonquian language and learning 
Indian lore, before he finally reached his chosen field of labor 
on the shores of the northern inland sea. With vivid pen he 
pictures for us in the passage that follows his outward jour- 
ney and his first two dismal winters at this remote post on 
Chequamegon Bay. Then by another long and toilsome 
journey, he returned in the summer of 1667 to Quebec to 
tarry but two days in the house of his friends, duty driving 
him again to the distant north. The next year (1668) the 
Algonquian tribes largely abandoned Chequamegon Bay, and 
Father Allouez founded a flourishing mission at the Sault, 
which for many years served as headquarters for the Jesuits 
of the Upper Country. Thence he visited Wisconsin, and after 
1669 for nearly a decade devoted his services to the numerous 
tribes about Green Bay. Heedless of fatigue or himger, 
cold or heat, he travelled over snow and ice, swollen streams 
or dangerous rapids, seeking distant Indian villages, count- 
ing it all joy if by any means he could win a few savages for 
a heavenly future. 

Allouez was a keen observer and had a ready pen; his 



INTRODUCTION 97 

descriptions are graphic, his incidents vivid. Zealot though 
he may have been with regard to his mission enterprises, 
Wisconsin historians owe him an undying debt of gratitude 
for his faithful portrayal of our earliest history. In 1671 
he was with St. Lusson, at his great pageant at Sault Ste. 
Marie; while the next year we fibnd him again in the Wis- 
consin mission, where he had the misfortune to have his cabin 
burned, December 22, 1672, and his diary and papers lost. 
About this time he built the mission house of St. Francis 
Xavier at De Pere. When he was reinforced by the arrival 
of other Jesuits, he left to them the missions around the 
bay, and chose for himself a more severe field of labor among 
the distant Mascoutin and Foxes. 

It was from the mission house at De Pere that Father 
Marquette in 1674 set forth on his second journey to the 
Illinois, a voyage which was to end only with his death. 
Thereafter Allouez adopted the Illinois mission as his own, 
and while temporarily abandoning it during La Salle's regime, 
was later found at Fort St. Louis of the Illinois when Tonty 
was in command of that post. In 1689 this devoted servant 
of the cross died at the Miami village on St. Joseph River. 
A second St. Francis Xavier, Allouez is said during his twenty- 
four years of service to have instructed a hundred thousand 
Western savages and baptized at least ten thousand. 

The first selection we have made from Allouez's writings 
is taken from the Jesuit Relation of 1668, first published in 
that year at Paris by S^bastien Cramoisy. In the Thwaites 
edition it is found in volume L., pp. 249-311, and volume LI., 
pp. 21-69. It describes the outward journey to Chequamegon 
Bay and the experiences of the missionary during the years 
1665-1667. 



FATHER ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE 
SUPERIOR, 1665-1667 

Chapter II. 

Journal of Father Claude Allouez's Voyage into the Outaouac 

Country. 

Two years ago, and more, Father Claude Allouez set out 
for that great and arduous mission, in behalf of which he has 
journeyed, in all his travels, nearly two thousand leagues 
through these vast forests, enduring hunger, nakedness, ship- 
wreck, weariness by day and night, and the persecutions of 
the idolaters ; but he has also had the consolation of bearing 
the torch of the Faith to more than twenty different infidel 
nations. 

We cannot gain a better knowledge of the fruits of his 
labors than from the Journal which he was called upon to 
prepare. 

The narrative will be diversified by the description of the 
places and lakes that he passed, the customs and super- 
stitions of the peoples visited, and by various incidents of 
an unusual nature and worthy of relation. He begins as 
follows : 

"On the eighth of August, in the year 1665, I embarked 
at Three Rivers with six Frenchmen, in company with more 
than four hundred savages of various nations, who, after 
transacting the little trading for which they had come, were 
returning to their own country. 

"The Devil offered all conceivable opposition to our 
journey, making use of the false prejudice held by these 
savages, that baptism causes their children to die. One of 
their chief men declared to me, in arrogant and menacing 
terms, his intention, and that of his people, to abandon me 
on some desert island if I ventured to follow them farther. 
We had then proceeded as far as the rapids of the River des 
Prairies, where the breaking of the canoe that bore me made 

98 



1665] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 99 

me apprehensive of the threatened disaster. We promptly 
set about repairing our little vessel ; and, although the sav- 
ages did not trouble themselves either to aid us or to wait 
for us, we were so expeditious as to join them near the Long 
Sault,^ two or three days after we started. 

"But our canoe, having been once broken, could not long 
be of service, and our Frenchmen, already greatly fatigued, 
despaired of being able to follow the savages, who were thor- 
oughly accustomed to such severe exertions. Therefore, I 
resolved to call them all together, in order to persuade them 
to receive us separately into their canoes, showing them that 
our own was in so bad a condition as to be thenceforth useless 
to us. They agreed to this; and the Hurons promised, al- 
though with much reluctance, to provide for me. 

"On the morrow, accordingly, when I came down to the 
water's edge, they at first received me well, and begged me 
to wait a very little while, until they were ready to embark. 
After I had waited, and when I was stepping down into the 
water to enter their canoe, they repulsed me with the asser- 
tion that there was no room for me, and straightway began 
to paddle vigorously, leaving me all alone with no prospect 
of human succor. I prayed God to forgive them, but my 
prayer was unanswered ; for they were subsequently wrecked, 
and the divine Majesty turned my abandonment on the part 
of men to the saving of my life. 

"Finding myself, then, entirely alone, forsaken in a 
strange land — for the whole fleet was already a good distance 
away — I had recourse to the blessed Virgin, in whose honor 
we had performed a novena which gained for us from that 
Mother of Mercy a very manifest daily protection. While 
I was praying to her I saw, quite contrary to my hopes, some 
canoes in which were three of our Frenchmen. I hailed 
them, and resuming our old canoe, we proceeded to paddle 
with all our strength, in order to overtake the fleet. But 
we had long since lost sight of it, and knew not whither to 

^ The Long Sault of Ottawa River is about forty-five miles above Montreal. 
It is now avoided by means of the Grenville Canal. It is famous in Canadian 
history for the defense (1660) by a handful of French led by Dollard against 
a horde of Iroquois. It thus became the Thermopylae of New France. See 
Francis Parkman, The Old Regime in Canada (Boston, 1875), pp. 72-82, 



100 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1665 

go, it being very difficult to find a narrow detour which must 
be taken in order to gain the portage of Cat Rapids (as that 
part is called).^ We should have been lost had we missed 
this narrow channel ; but it pleased God, owing to the blessed 
Virgin's intercessions, to guide us directly, and almost with- 
out our realizing it, to this portage. Here, as I saw two more 
canoes, belonging to the savages, I leaped into the water, and 
hastened to intercept them by land on the other side of the 
portage, where I found six canoes. ' How is this ? ' said I to 
them; 'do you thus forsake the French? Know you not 
that I hold Onnontio's voice in my hands, and that I am to 
speak for him, through the presents he entrusted to me, to 
all your nations?' These words forced them to give us aid, 
so that we joined the bulk of the fleet toward noon. 

"Upon landing, I felt that I must, in that critical state of 
affairs, use every possible and most effective means for the 
glory of God. I spoke to them all, and threatened them with 
the displeasure of Monsieur de Tracy, whose spokesman I 
was.2 Fear of disobliging that great Onnontio impelled one 
of the chief men among them to take the word, and harangue 
long and forcibly to persuade us to turn back. The weakness 
of this discontented man was turned to account by the evil 
spirit for closing the way against the Gospel. None of the 
others were better disposed ; so that, although our French- 
men found places for themselves without much difficulty, no 
one would be burdened with me — all declaring that I had 
neither skill at the paddle, nor strength to carry loads on my 
shoulders. 

"In this abandoned state I withdrew into the woods, 
and, after thanking God for making me so acutely sensible 

1 Cat Rapids, now called Les Chats, lie at the head of the widening of the 
Ottawa known as Lake des Chaudieres, not far above the city of Ottawa. 

2 Alexandre de Prouville, Marquis de Tracy (1603-1670), was a French 
general who had served in the West Indies, and was appointed in November, 
1663, governor-general of all the French possessions in the New World. He 
arrived in Canada in June, 1665, and took such vigorous measures against the 
Mohawk Indians that the colony secured a temporary peace. Allouez had been 
commissioned by Governor Tracy to announce to the visiting Algonquian In- 
dians the arrival of the Carignan regiment, designed to protect New France and 
its Algonquian allies against Iroquois aggression. Tracy returned to France 
m August, 1667. 



1665] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 101 

of my slight worth, confessed before his divine Majesty 
that I was only a useless burden on the earth. My prayer 
ended, I returned to the water's edge, where I found the 
disposition of that savage who had repulsed me with such 
contempt entirely changed ; for, unsolicited, he invited me 
to enter his canoe, which I did with much alacrity, fearing 
he would change his mind. 

"No sooner had I embarked than he put a paddle in my 
hand, urging me to use it, and assuring me it was an honor- 
able employment, and one worthy of a great captain. I 
willingly took the paddle and, offering up to God this labor 
in atonement for my sins, and to hasten those poor savages' 
conversion, I imagined myself a malefactor sentenced to the 
galleys ; and, although I became entirely exhausted, yet God 
gave me sufficient strength to paddle all day long, and often 
a good part of the night. But this application did not pre- 
vent my being conmionly the object of their contempt and the 
butt of their jokes; for, however much I exerted myself, I 
accomplished nothing in comparison with them, their bodies 
being large and strong, and perfectly adapted to such labors. 
The slight esteem in which they held me caused them to steal 
from me every article of my wardrobe that they could ; and 
I had much difficulty in retaining my hat, the wide rim of 
which seemed to them peculiarly fitted for defense against 
the excessive heat of the sun. And when evening came, as 
my pilot took away a bit of blanket that I had, to serve him 
as a pillow, he forced me to pass the night without any cover- 
ing but the foliage of some tree. 

''When hunger is added to these discomforts, it is a severe 
hardship, but one that soon teaches a man to find a relish in 
the bitterest roots and the most putrid meat. God was 
pleased to make me suffer from hunger, on Fridays especially, 
for which I heartily thank him. 

"We were forced to accustom ourselves to eat a certain 
moss growing upon the rocks. It is a sort of shell-shaped 
leaf which is always covered with caterpillars and spiders; 
and which, on being boiled, furnishes an insipid soup, black 
and viscous, that rather serves to ward off death than to im- 
part life.^ 

* Tripe de roche, for which see p. 41, note 1, ante. 



102 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1665 

''One morning, we found a stag that had been dead four 
or five days. It was a lucky accident for poor starveHngs. 
I was given a piece of it, and although its offensive odor de- 
terred some from eating any, hunger made me take my share ; 
but my mouth had a putrid taste, in consequence, until the 
next day. 

"Amid all these hardships, whenever we came to any 
rapids I carried as heavy burdens as I could ; but I often suc- 
cumbed under them, and that made our savages laugh and 
mock me, saying they must call a chUd to carry me and my 
burden. Our good God did not forsake me utterly on these 
occasions, but often wrought on some of the men so that, 
touched with compassion, they would, without saying any- 
thing, relieve me of my chapelle ^ or of some other burden, and 
would help me to journey a little more at my ease. 

"It sometimes happened that, after we had carried our 
loads and plied our paddles all day long, and even two or three 
hours into the night, we went supperless to bed on the ground, 
or on some rock, to begin over again the next day with the 
same labors. But everywhere the Divine Providence mingled 
some little sweetness and relief with our fatigue. 

"We endured these hardships for nearly two weeks; and 
after passing the Nipissirinien Lake, as we were descending 
a little river,2 we heard cries of lamentation and death-songs. 
Approaching the spot whence came these outcries, we saw 
eight young savages of the Outaouacs, frightfully burned by a 
direful accident, a spark having by inadvertence fallen into 
a keg of powder. Four among them were completely scorched, 
and in danger of dying. I comforted them and prepared them 
for baptism, which I would have conferred had I had time to 
see them sufficiently fitted for it ; for, despite this disaster, 
we had to keep on our way, in order to reach the entrance to 
the Lake of the Hurons, which was the rendezvous of all these 
travellers. 

"They arrived there on the twenty-fourth of this month, 
to the number of a hundred canoes; and then they applied 

* The sacred vessels, collectively, which were used in the celebration of 
the mass. 

* Lake Nipissing and French River. See p. 15, note 4, and p. 92, note 2, 
ante. 



1665] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 103 

themselves to the healing of these poor burned men, using on 
them all their superstitious remedies. 

"I was made well aware of this on the following night by 
the singing of certain jugglers, which filled the air, and by a 
thousand other ridiculous ceremonies employed by them. 
Others offered a sort of sacrifice to the Sun, to effect the cure 
of these patients; for, sitting in a circle, ten or twelve in 
number, as if to hold a council, on the point of a rocky islet, 
they lighted a little fire, with the smoke of which they sent 
up into the air confused cries, which ended with a speech ad- 
dressed to the Sun by the oldest and most influential man 
among them. 

"I could not endure the invocation of any of their imag- 
inary divinities in my presence ; and yet I saw myself quite 
alone, and at the mercy of all these people. I wavered for 
some time, in doubt whether it would be more fitting for me 
to withdraw quietly, or to offer opposition to their super- 
stitious practices. The completion of my journey depended 
upon them ; if I incensed them the Devil would make use of 
their anger in closing against me the door to their country, 
and in preventing their conversion. Besides, I had already 
perceived how little weight my words had with them, and 
knew that I should turn them still more against me by op- 
posing them. Despite all these reasons, I believed that God 
demanded this little service from me; and accordingly I 
went forward, leaving the result to his Divine Providence. 
I accosted the chief jugglers, and, after a long talk, sustained 
by each side, God was pleased to touch the sick man's heart 
so that he promised me to permit no superstitious ceremonies 
for his cure ; and, addressing God in a short prayer, he in- 
voked him as the author of life and of death. 

"This victory is not to be regarded as slight, being gained 
over the Evil One in the heart of his empire, and on ground 
where, for so many ages, he had been obeyed and worshipped 
by all those tribes. Hence he resented it soon after, and sent 
us the juggler, who howled about our cabin like a desperate 
man, and seemed bent on venting his rage upon our French- 
men. I prayed our Lord that his vengeance might not fall 
on any one but me, and my prayer was not in vain : we lost 
only our canoe, which that wretch broke in pieces. 



104 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1665 

" I had at the same time the grief to learn of the death of 
one of those poor burned men, without being able to attend 
him. Still I hope that God may have shown him mercy, 
in consequence of the acts of faith and contrition and the 
few prayers which I made him recite, the first time I saw him, 
which was also the last. 

"Toward the beginning of September, after coasting 
along the shores of the Lake of the Hurons, we reached the 
Sault : for such is the name given to a half-league of rapids 
that are encountered in a beautiful river which unites two 
great lakes — that of the Hurons, and Lake Superior. 

''This river is pleasing, not only on account of the is- 
lands intercepting its course and the great bays bordering 
it, but because of the fishing and hunting, which are excellent 
there. We sought a resting-place for the night on one of 
these islands, where our savages thought they would find 
provision for supper upon their arrival ; for, as soon as they 
landed, they put the kettle on the fire, expecting to see the 
canoe laden with fish the moment the net was cast into the 
water. But God chose to punish their presumption, and 
deferred giving any food to the starving men until the fol- 
lowing day. 

"On the second of September, then, after clearing this 
Sault — which is not a waterfall, but merely a very swift cur- 
rent impeded by numerous rocks — we entered Lake Superior, 
which will henceforth bear Monsieur de Tracy's name, in 
recognition of indebtedness to him on the part of the people 
of those regions.^ 

"The form of this lake is nearly that of a bow, the south- 
ern shore being much curved, and the northern nearly straight. 
Fish are abundant there, and of excellent quality ; while 
the water is so clear and pure that objects at the bottom can 
be seen to the depth of six brasses.^ 

"The savages revere this lake as a divinity, and offer it 
sacrifices, whether on account of its size — for its length is 
two hundred leagues, and its greatest width eighty^ — or be- 

1 The name was used only temporarily, quickly reverting to the earlier 
form, Superior (or Upper) Lake. 

* Brasse was a French linear measure amounting to 5.318 English feet. 
' Its extreme length from east to west is 412 miles, its extreme breadth 167. 



1665] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 105 

cause of its goodness in furnishing fish for the sustenance of 
all these tribes, in default of game, which is scarce in the 
neighborhood. 

"One often finds at the bottom of the water pieces of pure 
copper, of ten and twenty pounds' weight. I have several 
times seen such pieces in the savages' hands ; and, since they 
are superstitious, they keep them as so many divinities, or 
as presents which the gods dwelling beneath the water have 
given them, and on which their welfare is to depend. For 
this reason they preserve these pieces of copper, wrapped up, 
among their most precious possessions. Some have kept 
them for more than fifty years ; others have had them in their 
families from time immemorial, and cherish them as house- 
hold gods. 

"For some time, there had been seen a sort of great rock, 
all of copper, the point of which projected from the water; 
this gave passers-by the opportunity to go and cut off pieces 
from it. When, however, I passed that spot, nothing more 
was seen of it ; and I think that the storms — which here are 
very frequent, and like those at sea — have covered the rock 
with sand. Our savages tried to persuade me that it was a 
divinity, who had disappeared for some reason which they do 
not state. 

"This lake is, furthermore, the resort of twelve or fifteen 
distinct nations — coming, some from the north, others from 
the south, and still others from the west; and they all betake 
themselves either to the best parts of the shore for fishing, or 
to the islands, which are scattered in great numbers all over 
the lake. These peoples' motive in repairing hither is partly 
to obtain food by fishing, and partly to transact their petty 
trading with one another, when they meet. But God's pur- 
pose was to facilitate the proclaiming of the Gospel to wan- 
dering and vagrant tribes — as will appear in the course of this 
journal. 

"Having, then, entered Lake Tracy, we spent the whole 
month of September in coasting along its southern shore — 
where, finding myself alone with our Frenchmen, I had the 
consolation of saying holy mass, which I had been unable to 
do since my departure from Three Rivers. 

"After I had consecrated these forests by this holy cere- 



106 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1665 

mony, God led me to the water-side, and, to crown my joy, 
made me chance upon two sick children, who were being 
placed in canoes for a journey into the interior. I felt strongly 
inspired to baptize them, and, after all necessary precautions, 
did so in view of the danger to which I saw them exposed, 
of dying during the winter. All my past fatigues were as 
nothing to me thenceforth; and I was thoroughly inured to 
hunger, which ever followed us in close pursuit, our provision 
consisting only of what our fishermen's skill, which not al- 
ways met with success, could furnish us from day to day. 

*'We then crossed the bay named for Saint Theresa^ by 
the late Father Menard. There this brave missionary spent 
a winter, laboring with the same zeal which afterward made 
him sacrifice his life in the quest of souls. I found, at no great 
distance thence, some remnants of his labors, in the persons 
of two Christian women who had always kept the faith, and 
who shone like two stars amid the darkness of that infidelity. 
I made them pray to God, after I had refreshed their memory 
concerning our mysteries. 

"The Devil, doubtless filled with jealousy at this glory 
which, in the heart of his estates, is paid to God, did what he 
could to prevent my coming up hither; and, having failed 
in his object, he vented his spite on some writings I had 
brought with me, designed for the instruction of these in- 
fidels. I had enclosed them, with some medicines for the 
sick, in a little chest, which the evil spirit, seeing that it 
would be of great service to me in the savages' salvation, 
tried to make me lose. Once it was wrecked in the eddies 
of some rapids ; again it was left behind at the foot of a port- 
age; it changed hands seven or eight times; and, finally, it 
fell into those of that sorcerer whom I had censured at the 
entrance to the Lake of the Hurons, and who, after removing 
the lock, took what he chose, and then left it all open to the 
rain and exposed to passers-by. God was pleased to con- 
found the evil spirit and to make use of the greatest juggler 
of these regions — a man with six wives, and of a dissolute 
life — for its preservation. This man put it into my hands 

* Father Menard arrived at Keweenaw Bay of Lake Superior, March 1, 
1661, the day of Ste. Theresa, to whom he dedicated his new abode. For a 
sketch of this missionary see p. 25, note 1, ante. 



1665] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 107 

when I had given it up as lost, assuring me that the theriac^ 
and some other medicines, together with the images that were 
in the chest, were so many manitous or demons, who would 
make him die if he dared touch them. I learned, by subse- 
quent experience, how serviceable these writings in the lan- 
guages of the country were to me in converting the people." 

Chapter III. 

Of the Missionary's Arrival and Sojourn at the Bay of Saint 
Esprit, called Chagouamigong. 

"After coasting a hundred and eighty leagues along the 
southern shore of Lake Tracy, where it was our Lord's will 
often to test our patience by storms, famine, and weariness 
by day and night, finally, on the first day of October, we ar- 
rived at Chagouamigong, whither our ardent desires had 
been so long directed. 

"It is a beautiful bay, at the head of which is situated the 
great village of the savages, who there cultivate fields of 
Indian com and lead a settled life. They number eight 
hundred men bearing arms, but are gathered together from 
seven different nations, living in peace, mingled one with 
another, 

"This large population made us prefer this place to all 
others for our usual abode, that we might apply ourselves 
most advantageously to the instruction of these infidels, 
build a chapel, and enter upon the functions of the Christian 
religion. 

"At first, we could find shelter only under a bark roof, 
where we were so frequently visited by these people, most 
of whom had never seen any Europeans, that we were over- 
whelmed; and my efforts to instruct them were constantly 
interrupted by persons going and coming. Therefore I de- 
cided to go in person to visit them, each in his cabin, where 
I told them about God more at my ease, and instructed them 
more at leisure in all the mysteries of our faith. 

"While I was occupied in these holy pursuits, a young 

^ Theriac was a much-prized remedy in mediaeval times, composed of opium 
flavored with various spices, such as nutmeg, cinnamon, or mace. 



108 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1665 

savage — one of those who had been burned during our jour- 
ney — came to seek me, and asked for my prayers, assuring 
me of his earnest desire to become a Christian. He told me 
something that had happened to him, of which the reader 
may think what he chooses. 'I had no sooner obeyed thee,' 
said he to me, 'by sending away that sorcerer who was bent 
on curing me with his jugglery, than I saw the Creator of all 
things, of whom thou hast so often told me. He said to me 
in a voice which I heard distinctly : "Thou shalt not die, for 
thou didst listen to the black gown." He had no sooner 
spoken than I felt singularly strengthened, and found myself 
filled with a great confidence that I should regain my health, 
as, indeed, here I am, perfectly cured.' I have strong hopes 
that He who has wrought for the saving of the body, will not 
neglect that of the soul; and I feel all the more confidence 
that He will not, since this savage has come of his own free 
will to seek me, in order to learn the prayers and receive the 
necessary instruction. 

"Soon afterward, I learned that we had sent to Heaven 
an infant in swaddling-clothes, its death having occurred two 
days after I gave it holy baptism. St. Francis, whose name it 
bore, has doubtless presented that innocent soul to God, as 
the first-fruits of this mission. 

"I know not what will happen to another child, which 
I baptized immediately after its birth. Its father, an Ou- 
taouac by nation, summoned me as soon as it was born, even 
coming to meet me, to tell me that I must baptize it at once, 
in order to insure it a long life. This was an admirable 
course of action for one of these savages, who formerly be- 
lieved that baptism caused their children to die, and now are 
persuaded of its necessity for insuring them long lives. That 
belief gives me easier access to these children, who often come 
to me in troops to satisfy their curiosity by looking at a 
stranger, but much more to receive, without thinking about 
it, the first seeds of the Gospel, which will in time bear fruit 
in those young plants." 



1665] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 109 

Chapter IV. 
General Council of the Nations of the Outaouac Country, 

Upon the Father's arrival in the country of the Outa- 
ouacs, he found their minds filled with alarm at a fresh war 
in which they were about to engage with the Nadouessi, a 
warlike nation, using no other arms in its wars than the bow 
and the club. 

A detachment of young warriors was already forming 
under the lead of a chief who, having suffered an injury, 
did not consider whether the vengeance which he was bent 
on exacting would cause the ruin of all the villages of his 
country. 

To forestall such a disaster, the elders called a general 
council of ten or twelve circumjacent nations, all interested 
in this war, in order to stay the hatchets of these rash ones 
by the presents which they should give them in so important 
an assembly. 

To promote this end, the Father was invited to attend, 
and did so, that he might at the same time address all these 
people in the name of Monsieur de Tracy, from whom he bore 
a speech in three clauses, with three presents to serve as their 
interpreters.^ 

All this great assembly having given him audience, "My 
brothers," said he to them, "the motive that brings me to 
your country is very important, and makes it fitting that 
you should listen to my words with more than usual atten- 
tion. Nothing less is concerned than the preservation of 
your entire land, and the destruction of all your enemies." 
As the Father found them all, at these words, well disposed 
to listen to him attentively, he told them about the war that 
Monsieur de Tracy was undertaking against the Iroquois — 
how, by means of the King's anus, he was about to compel 
them to assume a respectful demeanor, and was going to make 
commerce safe between us and the Algonquin peoples, cleans- 
ing all the highways from those river pirates, and forcing them 
to observe a general peace or see themselves totally destroyed. 

^ The Indians were accustomed to present or receive a gift, or a string of 
wanipum. with every important measm-e proposed in council. 



110 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1665 

And here the Father took occasion to expatiate upon the 
piety of his Majesty, who wished God to be acknowledged 
throughout all his domains, and who received into his al- 
legiance no peoples who did not submit to the Creator of all 
the universe. He next explained to them the chief articles 
of our faith, and spoke to them earnestly concerning all the 
mysteries of our religion. In short, he preached Jesus Christ 
to all those nations. 

It is assuredly a very great consolation to a poor mission- 
ary, after a journey of five hundred leagues amid weariness, 
dangers, famines, and hardships of all sorts, to find himself 
listened to by so many different peoples, while he proclaims 
the Gospel and gives out to them the words of salvation, 
whereof they have never heard mention. 

Those are seeds that remain for a time in the ground, 
and do not at once bear fruit. One must go and gather it 
in the cabins, in the forests, and on the lakes; and that is 
what the Father did, being present everywhere — in their 
cabins, at their embarkations, on their journeys — and eveiy- 
where finding children to baptize, sick persons to prepare 
for the sacraments. Christians of long standing to hear in 
confession, and infidels to instruct. 

One day, it is true, while he was reviewing in his mind 
the obstacles encountered by the faith, in consequence of 
the depraved customs of all those peoples, he felt inwardly 
impelled, during the holy sacrifice of the mass, to ask of God, 
by the intercession of St. Andrew the Apostle, whose festival 
the Church was that day celebrating,^ that it might please 
his divine Majesty to show him some light for the establish- 
ment of Jesus Christ's kingdom in those regions in the place 
of paganism. From that very day God made him recognize 
the formidable obstacles he should there encounter, in order 
that he might more and more brace himself against those 
difficulties — of which the following chapter will give a toler- 
able conception. 

1 November 30. 



1665] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 111 

Chapter V. 

Of the False Gods and some Superstitious Customs of the Savages 

of that Country. 

Following is what Father AUouez relates concerning the 
customs of the Outaouacs and other peoples, which he has 
studied very carefully, not trusting the accounts given him by 
others, but having been himself an eye-witness and observer 
of everything described in this manuscript. 

"There is here," he says, "a false and abominable re- 
ligion, resembling in many respects the beliefs of some of the 
ancient pagans. The savages of these regions recognize no 
sovereign master of Heaven and Earth, but believe there 
are many spirits, some of whom are beneficent, as the Sun, 
the Moon, the lake, rivers, and woods; others malevolent, 
as the adder, the dragon, cold, and storms. And, in general, 
whatever seems to them either helpful or hurtful they call a 
Manitou, and pay it the worship and veneration which we 
render only to the true God. 

"These divinities they invoke whenever they go out 
hunting, fishing, to war, or on a journey, offering them sacri- 
fices, with ceremonies appropriate only for sacrificial priests. 

"One of the leading old men of the village discharges 
the function of priest, beginning with a carefully-prepared 
harangue addressed to the Sun, if the eat-all feast, ^ which 
bears a certain resemblance to a holocaust, is held in its 
honor. He declares in a loud voice that he pays his thanks 
to that luminary for having lighted him so that he could 
successfully kill some animal or other, praying and exhorting 
it by this feast to continue its kind care of his family. Dur- 
ing this invocation, all the guests eat, even to the last morsel ; 
after which a man appointed for the purpose takes a cake of 
tobacco, breaks it in two, and throws it into the fire. Every 
one cries aloud while the tobacco bums and the smoke rises 
aloft ; and with these outcries the whole sacrifice ends. 

^ The literature of Indian customs contains many descriptions of this kind 
of feast, which had something of a religious significance, and was supposed to 
bring good fortune in hunting. The name describes its character; it was the 
established etiquette to eat every morsel provided, hence it frequently became a 
disgusting orgy. 



112 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1665 

"I have seen," continues the Father, "an idol set up in 
the middle of a village; and to it, among other presents, 
ten dogs were offered in sacrifice, in order to prevail on this 
false god to send elsewhere the disease that was depopulating 
the village. Every one went daily to make his offerings to 
this idol, according to his needs. 

"Besides these public sacrifices, they have some that are 
private and domestic ; for often in their cabins they throw 
tobacco into the fire, with a kind of outward offering which 
they make to their false gods. 

"During storms and tempests, they sacrifice a dog, throw- 
ing it into the lake. 'That is to appease thee,' they say to 
the latter; 'keep quiet.' At perilous places in the rivers, 
they propitiate the eddies and rapids by offering them pres- 
ents ; and so persuaded are they that they honor their pre- 
tended divinities by this external worship, that those among 
them who are converted and baptized observe the same 
ceremonies toward the true God, until they are disabused. 

"As, moreover, these people are of gross nature, they 
recognize no purely spiritual divinity, believing that the 
Sun is a man, and the Moon his wife ; that snow and ice are 
also a man, who goes away in the spring and comes back in 
the winter; that the evil spirit is in adders, dragons, and 
other monsters ; that the crow, the kite, and some other birds 
are genii, and speak just as we do ; and that there are even 
people among them who understand the language of birds, 
as some understand a little that of the French. 

"They believe, moreover, that the souls of the departed 
govern the fishes in the lake; and thus, from the earliest 
times, they have held the immortality, and even the metemp- 
sychosis, of the souls of dead fishes, believing that they 
pass into other fishes' bodies. Therefore they never throw 
their bones into the fire, for fear that they may offend these 
souls, so that they will cease to come into their nets. 

"They hold in very special veneration a certain fabulous 
animal which they have never seen except in dreams, and which 
they call Missibizi, acknowledging it to be a great genius, 
and offering it sacrifices in order to obtain good sturgeon- 
fishing.^ 

* The same as "Michibous/' for whom see p. 90, note 1, ante. 



1665] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 113 

"They say also that the little nuggets of copper which 
they find at the bottom of the water in the lake, or in the 
rivers emptying into it, are the riches of the gods who dwell 
in the depths of the earth. 

"I have learned," says the Father who has brought to 
light all these follies, 'Hhat the Iliniouek, the Outagami, and 
other savages toward the south, hold that there is a great 
and excellent genius, master of all the rest, who made Heaven 
and Earth ; and who dwells, they say, in the East, toward the 
country of the French. 

"The foimtain-head of their religion is libertinism; and 
all these various sacrifices end ordinarily in debauches, inde- 
cent dances, and shameful acts of concubinage. All the 
devotion of the men is directed toward securing many wives, 
and changing them whenever they choose ; that of the women, 
toward leaving their husbands ; and that of the girls, toward 
a life of profligacy. 

"They endure a great deal on account of these ridiculous 
deities ; for they fast in their honor, for the purpose of learn- 
ing the issue of some affair. I have," says the Father, "seen 
with compassion men who had some scheme of war or hunt- 
ing pass a whole week, taking scarcely anything. They show 
such fixity of purpose that they will not desist until they 
have seen in a dream what they desire — either a herd of moose, 
or a band of Iroquois put to flight, or something similar — no 
very difficult thing for an empty brain, utterly exhausted 
with hunger, and thinking all day of nothing else. 

"Let us say something about the art of medicine in vogue 
in this country. Their science consists in ascertaining the 
cause of the ailment, and applying the remedies. 

" They deem the most common cause of illness to come from 
failure to give a feast after some successful fishing or hunting 
excursion; for then the Sun, who takes pleasure in feasts, 
is angry with the one who has been delinquent in his duty, 
and makes him ill. 

"Besides this general cause of sickness, there are special 
ones, in the shape of certain little spirits, malevolent in their 
nature, who thrust themselves of their own accord, or are 
sent by some enemy, into the parts of the body that are most 
diseased. Thus, when any one has an aching head, or arm, 



114 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1665 

or stomach, they say that a manitou has entered this part of 
the body, and will not cease its torments until it has been 
drawn or driven out. 

"The most common remedy, accordingly, is to summon 
the juggler, who comes attended by some old men, with 
whom he holds a sort of consultation on the patient's ailment. 
After this, he falls upon the diseased part, applies his mouth 
to it, and, by sucking, pretends to extract something from it, 
as a little stone, or a bit of string, or something else, which 
he has concealed in his mouth beforehand, and which he 
displays, saying : ' There is the manitou ; now thou art cured, 
and it only remains to give a feast.' 

"The Devil, bent on tormenting those poor blind crea- 
tures even in this world, has suggested to them another rem- 
edy, in which they place great confidence. It consists in 
grasping the patient under the arms, and making him walk 
barefoot over the live embers in the cabin ; or, if he is so ill 
that he camiot walk, he is carried by four or five persons, 
and made to pass slowly over all the fires, a treatment which 
often enough results in this, that the greater suffering thereby 
produced cures, or induces unconsciousness of, the lesser pain 
which they strive to cure. 

"After all, the commonest remedy, as it is the most prof- 
itable for the physician, is the holding of a feast to the Sun, 
which is done in the belief that this luminary, which takes 
pleasure in liberal actions, being appeased by a magnificent 
repast, will regard the patient with favor, and restore him to 
health." 

All this shows that those poor people are very far from 
God's kingdom; but He who is able to touch hearts as hard 
as stone, in order to make of them children of Abraham and 
vessels of election, will also be abundantly able to make 
Christianity spring up in the bosom of idolatiy, and to il- 
lumine with the lights of the Faith those barbarians, plunged 
although they are in the darkness of error, and in an ocean 
of debauchery. This will be recognized in the account of 
the missions undertaken by the Father in that extremity of 
the world, during the first two years of his sojourn there. 



1665] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 115 

Chapter VI. 
Relation of the Mission of Saint Esprit on Lake Tracy. 

After a hard and fatiguing journey of five hundred leagues, 
during which all kinds of hardships were encountered, the 
Father, after pushing on to the head of the great lake, there 
found opportunity, in founding the missions of which we 
are about to speak, to exercise the zeal which had made him 
eagerly undergo so many fatigues. Let us begin with the 
mission of Saint Esprit,^ which is the place of his abode. He 
speaks as follows: 

"This part of the lake where we have halted is between 
two large villages, and forms a sort of centre for all the na- 
tions of these regions, because of its abundance of fish, which 
constitutes the chief part of these peoples' sustenance. 

"Here we have erected a little chapel of bark,^ where 
my entire occupation is to receive the Algonkin and Huron 
Christians, and instruct them; baptize and catechize the 
children; admit the infidels, who hasten hither from all di- 
rections, attracted by curiosity ; speak to them in public and 
in private; disabuse them of their superstitions, combat 
their idolatry, make them see the truths of our Faith; and 
suffer no one to leave my presence without implanting in 
his soul some seeds of the Gospel. 

"God has graciously permitted me to be heard by more 
than ten different nations ; but I confess that it is necessary, 
even before daybreak, to entreat him to grant patience for 
the cheerful endurance of contempt, mockery, importunity, 
and insolence from these barbarians. 

"Another occupation that I have in my little chapel is 
the baptism of the sick children, whom the infidels them- 
selves bring hither, in order to obtain from me some medicine ; 
and as I see that God restores these little innocents to health 

^ Usually spoken of as La Pointe de St. Esprit, because of the long point 
(now an island) protecting the eastern side of the bay. 

^The location of Allouez's bark chapel is thought by local antiquaries to 
have been on the mainland of Chequamegon Bay on its southwest side, not far 
from the mouth of Whittlesey's Creek. See full discussion in Wiacormn His- 
torical Collections, XIII. 419, 437-440. 



116 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1666 

after their baptism, I am led to hope that it is His will to make 
them the foundation, as it were, of His Church in these regions. 

"I have hung up in the chapel various pictures, as of 
Hell and of the universal Judgment, which furnish me themes 
for instruction well adapted to my hearers; nor do I find it 
difficult then to engage their attention, to make them chant 
the Pater and Ave in their own tongue, and to induce them 
to join in the prayers which I dictate to them after each 
lesson. All this attracts so many savages that, from morn- 
ing till evening, I find myself happily constrained to give them 
my whole attention. 

"God blesses these beginnings; for the young people's 
debauches are no longer so frequent ; and the girls, who for- 
merly did not blush at the most shameless acts, hold them- 
selves in restraint, and maintain the modesty so becoming 
to their sex. 

"I know many who boldly meet the overtures made to 
them, with the reply that they have learned to pray, and 
that the black gown forbids them such acts of licentiousness. 

"A little girl, ten or twelve years old, coming one day to 
request my prayers, I said to her: 'My little sister, you do 
not deserve them ; you well know what was said about you 
some months ago.' 'It is true,' she replied, 'that I was not 
a good girl then, and that I did not know such actions were 
naughty ; but since I have begun to pray, and you have told 
us that such things were wicked, I have stopped doing them.' 

"The first days of the year 1666 were spent in presenting 
a very acceptable new-year's gift to the little Jesus, consist- 
ing of a number of children brought to me by their mothers, 
through a divine inspiration altogether extraordinary, to be 
baptized. Thus, little by little, this church was growing; 
and as I saw it already imbued with our mysteries, I deemed 
the time had come to transfer our little chapel to the midst 
of the great village, which lay three-quarters of a league 
from our abode, and which embraces forty-five or fifty large 
cabins of all nations, containing fully two thousand souls.^ 

^ This was a very large population for an Indian village ; it was probably 
due to the refugees from various tribes that had fled thither. There are local 
evidences that the site of this village was at the bottom of Chequamegon Bay, 
on the present Fish Creek. 



1666] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 117 

"It was just at the time of their great revels; and I can 
say, in general, that I saw in that Babylon a perfect picture 
of libertinism. I did not fail to carry on there the same pur- 
suits as in our first abode, and with the same success; but 
the Evil Spirit, envying the good there wrought by the grace 
of God, caused some diabolical jugglery to be carried on daily, 
very near our chapel, for the cure of a sick woman. It was 
nothing but superstitious dances, hideous masquerades, 
horrible yells, and apish tricks of a thousand kinds. Yet 
I did not fail to visit her daily ; and, in order to win her with 
kindness, I made her a present of some raisins. At length, 
the sorcerers having declared that her soul had departed, 
and that they gave up hope, I went to see her on the morrow, 
and assured her that this was false; and that I even hoped 
for her recovery, if she would believe in Jesus Christ. But 
I could produce no effect on her mind, and that made me 
determine to appeal to the very sorcerer who was attending 
her. He was so surprised to see me at his house that he seemed 
quite overcome. I showed him the folly of his art, and that 
he was hastening the death of his patients rather than their 
recovery. In reply, he threatened to make me feel its effects 
by a death that should be beyond dispute; and beginning 
his operations soon after, he continued them for three hours, 
calling out from time to time, in the midst of his ceremonies, 
that the black gown would die through them. But it was 
all in vain, thanks to God, who was able even to make good 
come out of evil ; for, this very man having sent me two of 
his children, who were ill, to be baptized, they received, 
through these sacred waters, the cure of soul and body at 
the same time. 

"On the following day, I visited another famous sorcerer, 
a man with six wives and living the disorderly life that can 
be imagined from such a company. Finding in his cabin a 
little army of children, I wished to fulfill my ministry, but 
in vain; and that was the first time in those regions that I 
saw Christianity scoffed at, especially in matters concerning 
the resurrection of the dead and the fires of Hell. I came out 
with this thought : Ibant Apostoli gaudentes a conspedu concilii, 
quoniam digni habiti sunt pro nomine Jesu contumeliam pati} 

^ Acts V. 41. 



118 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1666 

"The insults offered me in this cabin soon became known 
outside, and caused the others to treat me with the same 
insolence. Already a part of the bark — that is, of the walls 
— of our church had been broken; already a beginning had 
been made in stealing from me all my possessions ; the young 
people were becoming more and more numerous and inso- 
lent; and the word of God was listened to only with scorn 
and mockery. I was therefore compelled to abandon this 
post, and withdraw again to our customary abode, having 
this consolation upon leaving them, that Jesus Christ had 
been preached and the Faith proclaimed, not only publicly, 
but to each savage in private; for, besides those who filled 
our chapel from morn till eve, the others, who remained in 
their cabins, were taught by those who had heard me. 

"I have myself overheard them in the evening, after all 
had retired, repeating audibly and in the tone of a captain 
all the instruction which I had given them during the day. 
They freely acknowledged that what I teach them is very- 
reasonable ; but license prevails over reason, and, unless 
grace is very strong, all our teachings are of slight effect. 

"Upon the occasion of a visit from one of them for the 
purpose of being instructed, at the first words I spoke to him, 
about his having two wives, 'My brother,' he rejoined, Hhou 
speakest to me on a very delicate subject; it is enough for 
my children to pray ; teach them.' 

"After I had left that village of abomination, God led me 
two leagues from our dwelling, where I found three adult 
sick persons; these I baptized, after adequate instruction, 
and two of them died after their baptism. God's mysteri- 
ous ways excite our admiration, and I could cite many very 
similar illustrations of them which show the loving care of 
Providence for its elect." 



1666] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 119 

Chapter VII. 
Of the Mission to the Tionnontateheronnons. 

"The Tionnontateheronnons of the present day are the 
same people who were formerly called the Hurons of the 
tobacco nation.^ They, like the rest, were forced to leave 
their comitry to escape from the Hyroquois, and to retire to 
the head of this great lake, where distance and scarcity of 
game furnish them an asylmn against their foes. 

"They formerly constituted a part of the flourishing 
church of the Hurons, and had as pastor the late Father 
Gamier, who gave his life so courageously for his dear flock ; 
therefore they cherish his memory with very marked venera- 
tion.2 

"Since their country's downfall, they have received no 
Christian nurture ; whence it results that they are Christians 
rather by calling than by profession. They boast of that 
fair name, but the intercourse which they have so long had 
with infidels has nearly effaced from their minds all vestiges 
of religion, and has made them resume many of their former 
customs. Their village is at no great distance from our 
abode, which has enabled me to apply myself to this mission 
with greater assiduity than to the other more distant ones. 

"I have, accordingly, tried to restore this church to its 
pristine state by preaching the word of God, and administer- 
ing the sacraments. I conferred baptism upon a hundred 
children during the first winter I spent with them ; and upon 

* This tribe, which was known as Petun by the French, was originally 
settled in Nottawasaga township of Simcoe County, Ontario, where its members 
raised much tobacco. Defeated and massacred by the Iroquois in 1649 they 
fled to the forests of Wisconsin, then migrated to the vicinity of Mackinac, 
whence Cadillac induced them to remove to Detroit River. Under the name of 
Wyandot they were prominent in the Northwestern Indian wars of the eighteenth 
century. A remnant still remains on their reservation near Amherstburg, Ont. 

* Charles Garnier was born May 25, 1606, took his Jesuit novitiate at 
Paris, and came to New France in 1636. In November, 1639, he accompanied 
Isaac Jogues to the Tobacco Huron, but was received unfavorably, and driven 
away. Only after the third effort in 1647 did Garnier succeed in founding his 
mission, which became very flourishing, until the attack of the Iroquois in 
December, 1649. Garnier was murdered while attempting to rally and succor 
his flock. 



120 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1666 

others subsequently, during my two years of intercourse 
with them. The adults partook of the sacrament of penance, 
attended the holy sacrifice of the mass, prayed in public and 
in private; in short, as they had been very well taught, it 
was a matter of no great difficulty for me to restore piety to 
their hearts, and make them put forth once more the pious 
sentiments they formerly had for the Faith. 

"Of all these baptized children, God chose to take but 
two, who winged their way to Heaven after their baptism. 
As for the adults, there were three of them for whose sal- 
vation God seems to have sent me hither. 

"The first was an old man, Ousaki^ by birth, formerly 
of importance among his own people, and ever held in esteem 
by the Hurons, by whom he had been taken captive in war. 
A few days after my arrival in this country, I learned that 
he was lying ill four leagues from here. I went to see him, 
and instructed and baptized him; and three hours later he 
died, leaving me every possible proof that God had shown 
him mercy. 

"Even although my journey from Quebec should bear no 
further fruits than the saving of this poor old man, I would 
deem all the steps that I had taken only too well rewarded, 
inasmuch as the Son of God did not begrudge him even His 
last drop of blood. 

"The second person I have to mention was a woman, 
far advanced in years, who was confined, two leagues from 
our abode, by a dangerous illness, occasioned by the unex- 
pected ignition of a bag of powder in her cabin. Father 
Garnier had promised her baptism more than fifteen years 
before, and was on the point of conferring it, when he was 
killed by the Iroquois. That good Father was unwilling to 
break his promise, and like a good pastor he brought it about, 
by his intercession, that I should arrive here before she died. 
I visited her on All Saints' Day,^ and, after refreshing her 
memory concerning all our mysteries, found that the seeds 
of God's word, implanted m her soul so many years before, 
had there bonie fruits which awaited only the baptismal 
waters in order to attain their perfection. Accordingly I 
conferred this sacrament upon her, after I had thoroughly 

* A Sauk Indiau; see p. 81, note 2, ante. * November 1. 



1666] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 121 

prepared her; and on the very night of her receiving this 
grace she rendered up her soul to her Creator. 

"The third person was a girl, fourteen years of age, who 
applied herself very assiduously to all the catechisms and 
prayers which I caused to be recited, and of which she had 
learned a great portion by heart. She fell ill; her mother, 
who was not a Christian, called in the sorcerers, and made 
them go through all the fooleries of their infamous calling. 
I heard about it and went to see the girl, broaching to her 
the subject of baptism. She was overjoyed to receive it; 
and after that, mere child although she was, she made op- 
position to all the jugglers' practices, which they were bent 
on executing in her presence. She declared that by her bap- 
tism she had renounced all superstitions; and in this cou- 
rageous contest she died, praying to God until her very last 
breath." 

Chapter VIII. 

0/ the Mission to the Outaouacs, Kiskakoumac, and 
Outaouasinagouc. ^ 

"I group these three nations together because they have 
the same tongue, the Algonquin, and form collectively one 
village, which corresponds to that of the Tionnontateheron- 
nons, among whom we are dwelling. 

"The Outaouacs claim that the great river^ belongs to 
them, and that no nation can launch a boat on it without 
their consent. Therefore all who go to trade with the French, 
although of widely different nations, bear the general name 
of Outaouacs, under whose auspices they make the journey. 

"The old home of the Outaouacs was a district on the 
Lake of the Hurons, whence the fear of the Iroquois had 
driven them, and whither all their longings are directed as to 
their native land. 

"These peoples have very httle inclination to receive 

^ These are three of the divisions of the Ottawa people. Kiskakon is a 
word that means "Cut Tails" ; the Ottawa-Sinago were the squirrel clan of the 
tribe. 

*The Ottawa River was frequently called the Grand or Great River by 
the people of New France. 



122 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1666 

the faith, since they are extremely addicted to idolatry, 
superstitions, legends, polygamy, unstable marriages, and 
every sort of licentiousness, which makes them renounce all 
natural shame. All these obstacles did not deter me from 
preaching to them the name of Jesus Christ, and proclaiming 
the Gospel in all their cabins and in our chapel. The latter 
was filled from morning till night, and there I gave constant 
instruction in our mysteries and in God's commandments. 

"In the first winter that I spent with them I had the 
consolation to baptize about eighty children, including some 
boys and girls between eight and ten years old, who, by their 
assiduity in coming to offer prayer to God, showed themselves 
worthy of this blessing. A circumstance greatly facilitating 
the baptism of these children is the belief, now very com- 
mon, that those sacred waters not only do not cause death, 
as was formerly held, but even give health to the sick and 
restore the dying to life. Indeed, as a matter of fact, of all 
those children that were baptized, God was pleased to take 
to himself only six, leaving the rest to serve as a foundation 
for this new church. 

"As for the adults, I did not see fit to baptize many, 
because their superstitions, being so firmly rooted in their 
minds, offer a serious hindrance to their conversion. Of 
four whom I considered well prepared for this sacrament, the 
Divine Providence made itself clearly manifest in the case of 
one poor sick man, who lived two leagues from our dwelling. 
I knew not that he was in such a state, and yet felt inwardly 
prompted, despite my scanty strength and ill health, to go 
and see him. Accordingly, I made my way to a hamlet 
distant a good league from us, but found no sick people 
there. I learned, however, that there was another hamlet 
farther on; and, notwithstanding my weakness, felt that 
God demanded of me that I should repair thither. I did so 
with much difficulty, and found that dying savage only 
waiting for baptism, which I gave him after the necessary in- 
struction. He was fortunate in having shared in the instruc- 
tions that I gave during the winter, when he visited our 
chapel with the rest ; and in having, by his attention, shown 
himself deserving of God's mercy. 

"In the sunamer of that same year I was occupied chiefly 



1666] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 123 

in attending the sick of this mission ; three whom I found in 
danger I baptized, and two of them died in the profession of 
Christianity. Again God led me into the cabins, just in 
time to confer baptism on eleven sick children, who had not 
yet the use of their reason ; of these, five have gone to enjoy 
God. Of seventeen more children whom I baptized there, 
during the autumn and winter following, but one died, who 
ascended to Heaven almost at the same time when a good 
old blind man breathed his last, three days after his baptism." 

Chapter IX. 

0/ the Mission to the Pouteouatamiouec. 

"The Pouteouatami are a people speaking the Algonquin 
tongue, but in a dialect much harder to understand than 
that of the Outaouacs. Their country lies along the Lake of 
the Ilimouek, a large lake which had not before come to 
our knowledge, adjoining the Lake of the Hurons, and that 
of the Stinkards, in a southeasterly direction. ^ These peo- 
ple are warlike, and they engage in hunting and fishing. Their 
country is excellently adapted to raising Indian corn, and 
they have fields covered with it, to which they are glad to 
have recourse, to avoid the famine that is only too common 
in these regions. They are extremely idolatrous, clinging 
to their ridiculous legends, and are addicted to polygamy. 
We have seen them all here, to the number of three hundred 
men bearing arms. Of all the people with whom I have 
mingled in these regions, they are the most docile, and the 
best disposed toward the French. Their wives and daughters 
are more modest than those of the other nations. They 
observe among themselves a certain sort of civility, and also 
show it toward strangers, which is rare among our barbarians. 
Once when I went to see one of their elders, his eyes feU upon 
my shoes, which were made after the French fashion; and 
curiosity moved him to ask leave to take them, in order to 
examine them easily. Upon returning them to me, he would 
not permit me to put them on myself, but obliged me to al- 

^ Allouez terms Lake Michigan, Lake of the Ilimouek (Illinois Indians), 
adjacent to Lake Huron and to the Lake of the Stinkards (Green Bay). 



124 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1666 

low him to perform that service, even insisting on fastening 
the thongs, and showing the same marks of respect that ser- 
vants do to their masters upon rendering them this service. 
KneeUng at my feet, he said to me, 'It is in this way that 
we treat those whom we honor.' 

"On another occasion when I went to see him, he arose 
from his seat to yield it to me, with the same formahties 
that politeness demands of gentlefolk. 

"I proclaimed the Faith to them publicly in the general 
council held a few days after my arrival in this country, and 
privately in their cabins during their month's sojourn here, 
and afterward throughout the following autumn and winter, 
during which I baptized thirty-four of their children, nearly 
all of this number being in the cradle. I may say, too, for 
the consolation of this mission, that the first one of all these 
people to take possession of Heaven in the name of all his 
countrymen, was a Pouteouatami child whom I baptized soon 
after my arrival, and who died immediately afterward. 

"During the same winter I received into the church five 
adults, of whom the first was an aged man, about a hundred 
years old, who was regarded by the savages as a sort of di- 
vinity. He was wont to fast twenty days at a time, and 
had visions of God, that is, according to these people, of the 
Maker of the Earth. Nevertheless, he fell ill; and he was 
attended in his sickness by two of his daughters, who showed 
an assiduity and love above the capacity of savages. Among 
other services rendered him by them was that of repeating 
to him, in the evening, the instructions which they had heard 
during the day in our chapel. God was pleased to make use 
of their piety for their father's conversion ; for, when I visited 
him, I found him versed in our mysteries, and, the Holy 
Ghost operating in his heart through the mmistry of his 
daughters, he passionately asked to be made a Christian. I 
granted his request by baptizing him — a ceremony which I 
did not think it advisable to defer, seeing that he was in 
danger of death. Thenceforth, he would not allow in his 
presence any juggler's ceremonies for his cure; he would 
have no conversation, except on the saving of his soul ; and 
once, when I was urging upon him frequent prayer to God, 
*Know, my brother,' said he, 'that I am continually throwing 



1666] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 125 

tobacco into the fire, and saying, "Thou maker of Heaven 
and Earth, I would honor thee." ' I contented myself with 
making him understand that it was not necessary to honor 
God in that way, but merely to speak to him with the heart 
and the mouth. Then, the time having come when the 
savages ask the fulfillment of their desires in a ceremony 
much resembling the Bacchanalia or carnival, our good old 
man caused search to be made in all the cabins for a piece 
of blue cloth, declaring his wish therefor because it was the 
color of Heaven, Ho which,' said he, 'I would keep my heart 
and thoughts ever directed.' Never have I seen a savage 
more given to prayer than he ; among other prayers, he was 
wont to repeat the following with unusual fervor : ' My Father 
who art in Heaven, my Father, hallowed be your name,' — 
finding more sweetness in those words than iu the ones I 
taught him, ' Our Father who art in Heaven.' One day, taking 
thought of his extreme old age, he exclaimed of his own ac- 
cord, in the sentiments of St. Augustine : ' Too late have I 
come to know you, God, too late have I come to love you.' 
I doubt not that his death, w^hich was not long delayed, was 
precious in God's sight, who for so many years left him in 
idolatry, and reserved for him so few days for closing his life 
in so Christian a manner. 

"I must not omit here a rather strange circumstance: 
on the day after his death his relatives, contrary to all usage 
of this countr}'-, burned his body and reduced it entirely to 
ashes. ^ The cause of this is found in a legend which passes 
here for truth. 

"It is held beyond dispute that this old man's father was 
a hare, an animal which runs over the snow in winter, and 
that thus the snow, the hare, and the old man are of the same 
village, that is, are relatives. It is further said that the hare 
told his wife that he disapproved of their children's remain- 
ing ia the depths of the earth, as that did not befit their 
condition, they being relatives of the snow, whose country 
is above, toward the sky ; and, if it ever occurred that they 
were put iuto the gromid after their death, he would pray 
the snow, his relative, in order to punish the people for this 

^ Cremation is not usual among the North American aborigines ; when 
used it is due to some superstition, or is the custom of a particular clan. 



126 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1666 

offense, to fall in such quantities and so long that there should 
be no spring. And, to confirm this story, it is added that 
three years ago the brother of our good old man died, in the 
beginning of the winter; and, after he had been buried in 
the usual manner, snow fell to such an extent, and the winter 
was so long, that people despaired of seeing the spring in its 
season. Meanwhile, all were dying of hunger, and no remedy 
could be found for this general suffering. The elders as- 
sembled, and held many councils, but all in vain; the snow 
still continued. Then some one of the company said he re- 
membered the threats which we have related. Straightway 
they went and disinterred the dead man, and burned him ; 
when immediately the snow ceased, and spring followed. 
Who would think that people could give credence to such 
absurd stories? And yet they regard them as true beyond 
dispute. 

"Our good old man was not the only one of his house 
to whom God showed mercy. His two daughters, who were 
the cause of his salvation, were undoubtedly drawn to Heaven 
by his prayers ; for, one of them being seized with an ailment 
which lasted but five days, God guided my steps so fortu- 
nately for her eternal happiness that, although I could not 
reach her until the evening before her death, I had leisure 
to prepare her for holy baptism, which she received in time 
to go and bear her good father company in the glory which 
she had obtained for him. The third daughter, surviving 
both the others, seems to have inherited their piety. I found 
this woman so discreet, so modest, and so well disposed to- 
ward the Faith, that I did not hesitate to admit her into the 
Church through partaking of the sacraments. The entire 
family of that good neophyte — and it is a large one — feel 
the effects of this goodness, which seems natural to them. 
They all have a tender regard for me, and, from a feeling 
of respect which they bear me, call me by no other name 
than 'uncle.' I hope that God will show mercy to all of them, 
for I see them more inclined to prayer than is usual among 
savages. 

"We can also relate, among the marvels that God has 
wrought in this church, what happened in regard to another 
family of this nation. A young man, in whose canoe I had 



1666] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 127 

a place on my journey to this country, was seized, toward 
the close of the winter, with the contagious disease that was 
prevalent. I tried to show hini as much kindness as he had 
shown me ill usage on the journey. As he was a man of 
considerable importance, no kind of jugglery was spared 
for his cure; and it was carried so far that at length they 
came to tell me that they had extracted from his body two 
dog's teeth. 'That is not what causes his illness,' said I to 
them, 'but rather the tainted blood which he has in his body,' 
for I judged that he had the pleurisy. Meanwhile, I began 
to instruct him in good earnest ; and on the next day, finding 
him well prepared, I gave him holy baptism with the name of 
Ignace, hoping that great saint would confound the evil 
spirit and the jugglers. Indeed, I bled him ; and, showing 
the blood to the juggler, who was present, 'There,' said I to 
him, 'is what is killing this sick man. Thou shouldst, with 
all thy affected arts, have drawn from him every drop of this 
corrupt blood, and not some alleged dog's teeth.' But he, 
perceiving the relief which this bleeding had afforded the sick 
man, determined to have the glory of his cure ; and, to that 
end, made him take a kind of medicine, which produced such 
an ill effect that the patient remained for three whole hours as 
one dead. This result was proclaimed throughout the village, 
and the juggler, much surprised by the turn of affairs, con- 
fessed that he had killed the poor man, and begged me not to 
forsake him. He was not, in truth, forsaken by his patron, 
Saint Ignatius, who restored him to life, in order to confound 
the superstitions of these infidels. 

"This young man was not yet cured when his sister fell 
ill of the same disease. We enjoyed greater freedom in the 
discharge of our functions, in view of what had occurred in 
her brother's case, and I had every opportunity to prepare 
her for baptism ; and besides that grace, the blessed Virgin, 
whose name she bore, procured her recovery. 

"But hardly was she out of danger when the same dis- 
ease seized her cousin, in the same cabin. He appeared to 
me more dangerously ill than the two others had been, which 
made me hasten to baptize him, after the necessary instruc- 
tion. He was already feeling better, in consequence of this 
sacrament, when his father took it into his head to make a 



128 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1666 

feast, or, rather, a sacrifice to the Sun, to ask the latter for 
his son's recovery. I came upon them in the midst of the 
ceremony, and hastened to embrace my sick neophyte, and 
convince him that God alone was the master of life and death. 
He immediately acknowledged his error, and made atonement 
to God by the sacrament of penance; but I, addressing his 
father and all the sacrificers, said to them : ' I despair now of 
this patient's recovery, since you have had recourse to others 
than Him who has in His hands both life and death. You 
have killed this poor man by your impiety, and I give up all 
hope for him.' He died, in fact, some time afterward ; and 
I trust that God may have accepted his temporal death as 
penance for his offense, so that He will not deprive him of the 
everlastiug life which this man will have obtained by the in- 
tercessions of Saint Joseph, whose name he bore. 

"The gain is more assured in regard to children, of whom 
I baptized seventeen toward the close of this mission, which 
I was forced to bring to an end by the departure of these 
people, as they returned to their own country after harvest- 
ing their Indian corn. On taking leave, they gave me a very 
pressing invitation to visit them in the following spring. 
May God be forever glorified in the minds of those poor 
barbarians, who have at last acknowledged Him, after recog- 
nizing, from the earliest times, no divinity greater than the 
Sun." 

Chapter X. 
Of the Mission to the Ousakiouek and Outagamiouek} 

"I next add these two nations because they are mingled 
with and allied to the preceding, and have, besides, the same 
language, the Algonquin, although differing greatly in various 
idioms, a fact which makes it very difficult to understand 
them. Nevertheless, after some labor on my part, they un- 
derstand me now, and I understand them, sufficiently for 
their instruction. 

"The country of the Outagami lies southward toward the 
Lake of the Ilimouek. They are a populous tribe, of about a 
thousand men bearing arms, and given to hunting and war- 

^ Sauk and Outagami. 



1666] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 129 

fare. They have fields of Indian com, and hve in a country- 
offering excellent facilities for the hunting of the wildcat, 
stag, wild ox, and beaver. Canoes they do not use, but 
commonly make their journeys by land, bearing their pack- 
ages and their game on their shoulders. These people are as 
much addicted to idolatry as the other nations. One day, 
on entering the cabin of an Outagamy, I found his parents 
dangerously ill; and when I told him that bleeding would 
cure them, the poor man took some powdered tobacco and 
sprinkled it completely over my gown, saying to me : ' Thou 
art a spiiit; come now, restore these sick people to health; 
I offer thee this tobacco in sacrifice.' ^What art thou doing, 
my brother?' said I; 'I am nothing, but He who made all 
things is the master of our lives, while I am but His servant.' 
'Well, then,' he rejoined, scattering some tobacco on the 
ground, and raising his eyes on high, 'to Thee, then, who 
madest Heaven and earth I offer this tobacco. Give these 
sick persons health.' 

''These people are not very far removed from the rec- 
ognition of the Creator of the world ; for it is they who told 
me what I have already related, namely, that they acknowl- 
edge in their country a Great Spirit, the maker of Heaven 
and earth, who dwells toward the country of the French. 
It is said of them and of the Ousaki that, when they find a 
man alone and at a disadvantage, they kill him, especially 
if he is a Frenchman; for they cannot endure the beards of 
the latter people. Cruelty of that kind makes them less 
docile, and less inclined to receive the Gospel, than are the 
Pouteouatami. Still I failed not to proclaim it to nearly 
six-score persons, who passed a summer here. I found none 
among them sufficiently well prepared for baptism, though I 
conferred it on five of their sick children, who then recovered 
their health. 

"As for the Ousaki, they above all others can be called 
savages. They are very numerous, but wandering and 
scattered in the forests, without any fixed abode. I have 
seen nearly two hundred of them, to all of whom I have pub- 
lished the Faith, and have baptized eighteen of their children, 
to whom the sacred waters were salutary for both soul and 
body." 



130 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1666 

Chapter XL 
Of the Mission to the lUmouec, or Alimouek. 

"The Himouec speak Algonquin, but a very different 
dialect from those of all the other tribes.^ I understand them 
only slightly, because I have talked with them only a very 
little. They do not live in these regions, their country being 
more than sixty leagues hence toward the south, beyond a 
great river — which, as well as I can conjecture, empties into 
the sea somewhere near Virginia. These people are hunters 
and warriors, using bows and arrows, rarely muskets, and 
never canoes. They used to be a populous nation, divided 
into ten large villages; but now they are reduced to two, 
continual wars with the Nadouessi on one side and the Iro- 
quois on the other having well-nigh exterminated them. 

"They acknowledge many spirits to whom they offer 
sacrifice. They practise a kind of dance, quite peculiar to 
themselves, which they call 'the dance of the tobacco-pipe.' 
It is executed thus : they prepare a great pipe, which they 
deck with plumes, and put in the middle of the room, with a 
sort of veneration. One of the company rises, begins to 
dance, and then yields his place to another, and this one to 
a third ; and thus they dance in succession, one after another, 
and not together. One would take this dance for a panto- 
mime ballet; and it is executed to the beating of a drum. 
The performer makes war in rhythmic time, preparing his 
arms, attiring himself, running, discovering the foe, raising 
the cry, slaying the enemy, removing his scalp, and returning 
home with a song of victory, and all with an astonishing ex- 
actness, promptitude and agility. After they have all danced, 
one after the other, around the pipe, it is taken and offered 
to the chief man in the whole assembly, for him to smoke; 
then to another, and so in succession to all. This ceremony 
resembles in its significance the French custom of drinking, 
several out of the same glass ; but, in addition, the pipe is 
left in the keeping of the most honored man, as a sacred trust, 

1 The language of the Illinois-Miami division of the Algonquian stock 
differs considerably from that of the northern tribes with whom Allouez was 
familiar. 



1666] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 131 

and a sure pledge of the peace and union that will ever sub- 
sist among them as long as it shall remain in that person's 
hands. 

"Of all the spirits to whom they offer sacrifice, they 
honor with a very special worship one who is preeminent 
above the others, as they maintain, because he is the maker 
of all things. Such a passionate desire have they to see him 
that they keep long fasts to that end, hoping that by this 
means God will be induced to appear to them in their sleep ; 
and if they chance to see Him, they deem themselves happy, 
and assured of a long life. 

"All the nations of the south have this same wish to see 
God, which, without doubt, greatly facilitates their conver- 
sion ; for it only remains to teach them how they must serve 
Him in order to see Him and be blessed. 

" I have proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ here to eighty 
people of this nation, and they have carried it and published 
it with approbation to the whole country of the south ; con- 
sequently I can say that this mission is the one where I have 
labored the least and accomplished the most. They honor 
our Lord among themselves in their own way, putting His 
image, which I have given them, in the most honored place 
on the occasion of any important feast, while the master of 
the banquet addresses it as follows : ' In Thy honor, 
Man-God, do we hold this feast ; to Thee do we offer these 
viands.' 

"I confess that the fairest field for the Gospel appears to 
me to be yonder. Had I had leisure and opportunity, I would 
have pushed on to their country, to see with my own eyes all 
the good thiags there of which they tell me. 

"I find all those with whom I have mingled affable and 
humane ; and it is said that whenever they meet a stranger, 
they give a cry of joy, caress him, and show him every possible 
evidence of affection. I have baptized but one child of this 
nation. The seeds of the Faith which I have sown in their 
souls will bear fruit when it pleases the master of the vine to 
gather it. Their country is warm, and they raise two crops 
of Indian corn a year. There are rattlesnakes there, which 
cause many deaths among them, as they do not know the 
antidote. They hold medicines in high esteem, offering 



132 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1666 

sacrifice to them as to great spirits. They have no forests 
in their country, but vast prairies instead, where oxen, cows, 
deer, bears, and other animals feed in great numbers." 



Chapter XII. 

Of the Mission to the N adouesiouek. 

"These are people dwelling to the west of this place, 
toward the great river named Messipi.^ They are forty 
or fifty leagues from this place, in a country of prairies, rich 
in all kinds of game. They cultivate fields, sowing therein 
not Indian corn, but only tobacco; while Providence has 
furnished them a kind of marsh rye which they go and har- 
vest toward the close of summer in certain small lakes that 
are covered with it. So well do they know how to prepare it 
that it is highly appetizing and very nutritious.^ They 
gave me some when I was at the head of Lake Tracy, where 
I saw them. They do not use muskets, but only bows and 
arrows, with which they shoot very skillfully. Their cabins 
are not covered with bark, but with deerskins, carefully dressed, 
and sewed together with such skill that the cold does not enter. 
These people are, above all the rest, savage and wild, appear- 
ing abashed and as motionless as statues in our presence. 
Yet they are warlike, and have conducted hostilities against 
all their neighbors, by whom they are held in extreme fear. 
They speak a language that is utterly foreign, the savages 
here not understanding it at all. Therefore I have been 
obliged to address them through an interpreter, who, being 
an infidel, did not accomplish what I might well have wished. 
Still I succeeded in wresting from the demon one innocent 
soul of that country, a little child, who went to Paradise soon 
after I had baptized it. A solis ortu usque ad occasum lauda- 
hile nomen Domini.^ God will give us some opportunity to 

^ This is the first mention in the Jesuit Relations of the Mississippi River 
by this name. 

2 The wild oats or wild rice that grows so plentifully in the streams and 
lakes of Wisconsin and Minnesota forms a nourishing food of great value in 
Indian economy. 

' Psalm cxiii. 3. 



1666] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 133 

announce His word there, and glorify His holy name, when 
it shall please his divine Majesty to show mercy to those 
people. They are well-nigh at the end of the earth, so they 
say. Farther toward the setting Sun there are nations named 
Karezi, beyond whom, they maintain, the earth is cut off, 
and nothing is to be seen but a great lake whose waters are 
ill-smelling, for so they designate the sea. 

"Toward the northwest there is a nation which eats 
meat uncooked, being content to hold it in the hand and 
expose it to the fire, while beyond these people lies the North 
Sea. On this side are the Kilistinons, whose rivers empty 
into Hutston's Bay.^ We have, besides, some knowledge 
of the savages inhabiting the regions of the south, as far as 
the sea; so that only a little territory and few people are 
left to whom the Gospel has not been proclaimed — if we 
credit the reports often given us by the savages." 

Chapter XIII. 
0/ the Mission to the Kilistinouc. 

"The Kilistinouc have their usual abode on the shores of 
the North Sea, and their canoes ply along a river emptying 
into a great bay, which we think is, in all probability, the one 
designated on the map by the name of Hutson. For those 
whom I have seen from that country have told me that they 
had known of a ship ; and one of their old men declared to 
me that he had himself seen, at the mouth of the River of the 
Assinipoualac,^ some peoples allied to the Kilistinouc, whose 
country is still farther northward. 

"He told me further that he had also seen a house which 
the Europeans had built on the mainland, out of boards and 
pieces of wood; and that they held books in their hands, 
like the one he saw me holding when he told me this. He 
made mention of another nation, adjoining the Assinipoualac, 
who eat human beings, and live wholly on raw flesh; but 
these people, in turn, are eaten by bears of frightful size, 

1 The Christinaux Indians, for whom see p. 24, note 3, ante. They ranged 
as far northward as Hudson Bay. 
* The present Assiniboine River. 



134 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1666 

all red, and with prodigiously long claws. ^ It is deemed 
highly probable that they are lions. 

"Concerning the Kilistinouc, they appear to me extremely 
docile, and show a kindness uncommon among these bar- 
barians. They are much more nomadic than any of the 
other nations, having no fixed abode, no fields, no villages; 
and living wholly on game and a small quantity of oats which 
they gather in marshy places. They pay idolatrous wor- 
ship to the Sun, to which they are wont to offer sacrifice by 
fastening a dog to the top of a pole and leaving it thus sus- 
pended until it rots. 

"They speak nearly the same tongue as do the people 
formerly called Poissons-blancs,^ and as the savages of Ta- 
doussac. By the grace of God I understand them, and they 
me, sufficiently for their instruction. They had never heard 
of the Faith, and this novelty, together with their docUity 
of temperament, made them very attentive to me. They 
have promised me to render homage henceforth only to the 
Creator of the Sun and of the world. The wandering and 
vagrant life which they lead made me postpone baptizing 
those whom I saw to be best prepared, and I only baptized 
a new-born girl-baby. 

"I hope this mission will some day bear fruit commen- 
surate with the labors which will be bestowed upon it when 
our Fathers go and winter with the people, as they do with 
the savages from Tadoussac,' at Quebec. They have in- 
vited me thither, but I cannot give myself wholly to some while 
depriving so many others of the succor I owe them, as being 
the nearest to this place and the best fitted to receive the 
Gospel." 

' The Assiniboin are a Siouan tribe, offshoot from the Yankton family of 
the Sioux. Their habitat was on Lake Winnipeg and the river of their name. 
They traded with the Christinaux and were frequently supplied from Hudson 
Bay. The animals here described are grizzly bears. 

* Poissons-blancs (whitefish) was the French appellation of the Attikamegue 
Indians who lived on the upper waters of St. Maurice River. Allouez speaks 
of them in the past tense, for they were nearly extinct at this time because of the 
attacks of the Iroquois and the ravages of small-pox. 

' Tadoussac lies at the mouth of Saguenay River, where the Jesuits had a 



1667] ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 135 

Chapter XIIII. 

0/ the Mission to the Outchihouec} 

"They are called sauteurs by the French, because their 
abode is the sault by which Lake Tracy empties into the 
Lake of the Hurons. They speak the common Algonquin, 
and are easily understood. I have proclaimed the Faith to 
them on various occasions, but especially when I sojourned 
with them at the head of our great lake for a whole month. 
During that time, I instructed them in all our mysteries; 
I also baptized twenty of their children, and an adult who was 
sick ; this man died on the day after his baptism, bearing to 
Heaven the first-fruits of his nation." 

Chapter XV. 

Of the Mission to the Nipissiriniens, and Father Alloues^s Jour- 
ney to Lake Alimibegong. 

"The Nipissiriniens formerly received instruction from 
our Fathers who sojourned in the country of the Hurons.' 
These poor people, many of whom were Christians, were com- 
pelled by the incursions of the Iroquois to flee for refuge even 
to Lake Alimibegong, only fifty or sixty leagues from the 
North Sea.s 

"For nearly twenty years they have neither seen a pastor 
nor heard the name of God. I thought that I ought to be- 
stow a part of my labors on that old-time church, and that 
a journey undertaken to their new country would be attended 
with Heaven's blessings. 

" On the sixth day of May of this year, 1667, I embarked 
in a canoe with two savages to serve me as guides, through- 
out this journey. Meeting on the way two-score savages from 
the North Bay, I conveyed to them the first tidings of the 
Faith, for which they thanked me with some politeness. 

"Continuing our journey, on the seventeenth we crossed 

* A variant for the Chippewa tribe, for whom see p. 23, note 2, ante. 
» See Introduction to Raymbault and Jogues, ante. 

• Lake Nipigon, north of Lake Superior, emptying into it by a river of the 
saine name. 



136 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1667 

a portion of our great lake, paddling for twelve hours with- 
out dropping the paddle from the hand. God rendered me 
very sensible aid; for, as there were but three of us in our 
canoe, I was obliged to paddle with all my strength, together 
with the savages, in order to make the most of the calm, 
without which we should have been in great danger, utterly 
spent, as we were, with toil and lack of food. Nevertheless, 
we lay down supperless at nightfall, and on the morrow con- 
tented ourselves with a frugal meal of Indian corn and water ; 
for the wind and rain prevented our savages from casting 
their net. 

"On the nineteenth, invited by the beautiful weather, 
we covered eighteen leagues, paddling from daybreak until 
after sunset, without respite and without landing. 

"On the twentieth, finding nothing in our nets, we con- 
tinued our journey, munching some grains of dry com. On 
the following day, God refreshed us with two small fishes, 
which gave us new life. Heaven's blessings increased on the 
next day, our savages catcliing so many sturgeon that they 
were obliged to leave part of them at the water's edge. 

"Coasting along the northern shore of this great lake 
on the twenty-third, we passed from island to island, these 
being very frequent. There is one, at least twenty leagues 
long, where are found pieces of copper, which is held by the 
Frenchmen who have examined it here to be true red copper. '^ 

"After accomplishing a good part of our journey on the 
lake, we left it on the twenty-fifth of this month of May, 
and consigned ourselves to a river, so full of rapids and falls 
that even our savages could go no farther ; and learning that 
Lake Alimibegong was still frozen over, they gladly took the 
two days' rest imposed upon them by necessity. 

"As we drew near our journey's end, we occasionally met 
Nipissirinien savages, wandering from their homes to seek a 
livelihood in the woods. Gathering together a considerable 
number of them, for the celebration of Whitsuntide,^ I pre- 
pared them by a long instruction for hearing the holy sacri- 
fice of the mass, which I celebrated in a chapel of foliage. 
They listened with as much piety and decorum as do our 

1 Isle Royale, now under the jurisdiction of Keweenaw County, Michigan. 

2 Whitsunday fell on May 29 in 1667. 



16671 ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY TO LAKE SUPERIOR 137 

savages of Quebec in our chapel at Sillery;^ and to me it 
was the sweetest refreshment I had during that journey, en- 
tirely removing all past fatigue. 

"Here I must relate a remarkable circumstance which 
occurred not long ago. Two women, mother and daughter, 
who had always had recourse to God from the time of their 
instruction, and had received from Him unfailing and ex- 
traordinary succor, very recently learned by experience that 
God never forsakes those who put their trust in Him. They 
had been captured by the Iroquois, and had happily escaped 
from the fires and cruelties of those barbarians ; but had soon 
afterward fallen a second time into their clutches, and were, 
consequently, left with no hope of escape. Yet one day, 
when they found themselves alone with a single Iroquois, 
who had remained behind to guard them while the rest went 
out to hunt, the girl told her mother that the time had come 
to rid themselves of this guard, and flee. To this end she 
asked the Iroquois for a knife to use on a beaver-skin that 
she was ordered to dress; and at the same time, imploring 
Heaven's aid, she plunged it into his bosom. The mother, 
on her part, arose and struck him on the head with a billet 
of wood, and they left him for dead. Taking some food, 
they started forth with all haste, and at length reached their 
own country in safety. 

"We spent six days in paddling from island to island, 
seeking some outlet; and finally, after many detours, we 
reached the village of the Nipissiriniens on the third day 
of June. It is composed of savages, mostly idolaters, with 
some Christians of long standing. Among them I found 
twenty who made public profession of Christianity. I did 
not lack occupation with both classes during our two weeks' 
sojourn in their country, and I worked as diligently as my 
health, broken by the fatigues of the journey, allowed. I 
found more resistance here than anj^ivhere else to infant 
baptism ; but the more the Devil opposes us, the more must 
we strive to confound him. He is hardly pleased, I think, to 
see me make this latest journey, which is nearly five hundred 
leagues in length, going and coming, including the detours we 
were obliged to make." 

^ A mission colony not far from Quebec. 



FATHER ALLOUEZ'S WISCONSIN JOURNEY 

1669-1670 



INTRODUCTION 

In our last selection Allouez, in the summer of 1667, was 
left at his farthest north on Lake Nipigon; the following 
narrative commences with the autumn of 1669. Within the 
two years unrecorded here, he had visited the St. Lawrence 
twice, had secured more workers for the Western field, and 
had established permanent headquarters at Sault Ste. Marie. 
At this place Father Claude Dablon had been made superior of 
all the Western missions; while Father Jacques Marquette 
had taken Allouez's former place at the Bay of Chequamegon. 

Allouez was eager to begin new work among the Wiscon- 
sin tribes, many from among whose members had paid him 
short visits in his hut on Chequamegon Bay. No sooner had 
he reached the Sault, after the long fatiguing canoe journey of 
a thousand miles, than he began preparations for a voyage 
to Green Bay and the villages upon its shores. The succeed- 
ing narrative is especially interesting to the student of West- 
ern history, since by this journey Allouez opened the way for 
the later exploration of Father Marquette, and in his accurate 
and detailed descriptions portrays with careful hand the Wis- 
consin of the aborigines. 

The extract that follows is from the Jesuit Relation of 
1669-1670, first published at Paris in 1671. It is found in 
the Thwaites edition in volume LIV., pp. 197-214. 



141 



FATHER ALLOUEZ'S JOURNEY INTO 
WISCONSIN, 1669-1670 

Chapter XII. 

0/ the Mission of Saint Frangois Xavier on the "Bay of Stink- 
ards," or rather " of Stinking Waters." 

Letter from Father Allouez, who has had charge of this Mission, 
to the Reverend Father Superior. 

My Reverend Father, Pax Christi. 

1 SEND to Your Reverence the journal of our winter's 
campaign, wherein you will find how the Gospel has been 
proclaimed, and Jesus Christ preached, to peoples that wor- 
ship only the Sun, or some imaginary idols. 

On the third of November, we departed from the Sault, 
I and two others. Two canoe-loads of Prouteouatamis 
wished to conduct me to their country ; not that they wished 
to receive instruction there, having no disposition for the 
Faith, but that I might curb some young Frenchmen, who, 
being among them for the purpose of trading, were threaten- 
ing and maltreating them.^ 

We arrived on the first day at the entrance to the Lake 
of the Hurons, where we slept under the shelter of the is- 
lands. The length of the journey and the difiiculty of the 
way, because of the lateness of the season, led us to have 
recourse to Saint Francis Xavier, patron of our mission; 
this obliged me to celebrate holy mass, and my two compan- 
ions to receive communion on the day of the feast,^ in his 
honor, and still further to invoke him, twice every day, by 
reciting his orison. 

On the fourth, toward noon, we doubled the cape which 

^ See Parrot's account of the disorder and license of the early coureurs des 
hois, p. 82, ante. 

2 December 3 was the feast-day of St. Francis Xavier ; see p. 145, 'post. 

142 



16691 ALLOUEZ IN WISCONSIN 143 

forms the detour,* and is the beginning of the strait or the 
gulf of Lake Huron, which is well known, and of the Lake of 
the Ilinois, which up to the present time is unknown, and is 
much smaller than Lake Huron. Toward evening the con- 
trary wind, which was about to cast our canoe upon the shoals 
of rocks, obliged us rather to finish our journey. 

On the 5th, upon waking, we found ourselves covered with 
snow, and the surface of the canoe coated with ice. This 
little beginning of crosses which our Lord was pleased to al- 
lot us invited us to offer ourselves for greater ones. We 
were compelled to embark with all the baggage and provisions, 
with great difficulty, our bare feet in the water, in order to 
keep the canoe afloat, which otherwise would have broken. 
After leaving a great number of islands to the northward,^ 
we slept on a little island, where we were detained six days 
by the bad weather. The snow and frosts threatening us 
with ice, my companions had recourse to Saint Anne, to whom 
we entrusted our journey, praying her, together with St. 
Francis Xavier, to take us under her protection. 

On the eleventh we embarked, notwithstanding the con- 
trary wind, and crossed to another island, and thence to the 
mainland, where we found two Frenchmen with several 
savages. From them we learned of the great dangers to 
which we were about to expose ourselves, by reason of the 
storms that are frequent on this lake, and the ice which 
would soon be afloat. But all that was not sufficient to shake 
the confidence that we had reposed in our protectors. After 
invoking them, we launched the canoe, and then doubled 
successfully enough the cape^ which makes a detour to the 
west, having left in our rear a large island named Michili- 
makinak, celebrated among the savages. Their legends about 
this island are pleasing. 

They say that it is the native country of one of their 
gods, named Michabous — that is to say, "the Great Hare," 
Ouisaketchak, who is the one that created the earth; and 
that it was in these islands that he invented nets for catch- 

^ Still called Detour, in Chippewa County, Mich. 

2 The Cheneaux Islands of Mackinac County, now utilized for summer 
homes. 

' Cape St. Ignace, directly west of Mackinac Island. 



144 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

ing fish, after he had attentively considered the spider while 
she was working at her web in order to catch flies in it. They 
believe that Lake Superior is a pond made by beavers, and 
that its dam was double, the first being at the place called by 
us the Saiilt, and the second five leagues below. In ascend- 
ing the river, they say, this same god found that second dam 
first and broke it down completely; and that is why there 
is no waterfall or whirlpools in that rapid. As to the first 
dam, being in haste, he only walked on it to tread it down; 
and, for that reason, there still remain great falls and whirl- 
pools there. 

This god, they add, while chasing a beaver in Lake Su- 
perior, crossed with a single stride a bay of eight leagues in 
width. In view of so mighty an enemy, the beavers changed 
their location, and withdrew to another lake, Alimibegoung, 
whence they afterward, by means of the rivers flowing from it, 
arrived at the North Sea/ with the intention of crossing over 
to France ; but, finding the water bitter, they lost heart, and 
spread throughout the rivers and lakes of this entire country. 
And that is the reason why there are no beavers in France, 
and the French come to get them here.^ The people believe 
that it is this god who is the master of our lives, and that 
he grants life only to those to whom he has appeared in sleep. 
This is a part of the legends with which the savages very 
often entertain us. 

On the fourteenth, God delivered us from two great 
dangers, through the intercession of our protectors. While 
we were taking a little rest, our canoe was borne away from 
us by a gust of wind, which carried it to the other side of the 
river; then it was brought back to us by another gust of 
wind, when, awakened by the noise it made, we were think- 
ing of making a raft, in order to go and get it. Toward eve- 
ning, after making a long day's journey and finding no place 

^ Lake Nipigon discharges into Lake Superior, but the portages between 
its tributaries and Albany River — an affluent of Hudson Bay — are very short 
and easy ; thus Allouez, who had been at Lake Nipigon, thought of it as directly 
communicating with the North Sea. 

* Either the missionary put his own interpretation upon this myth, or it 
was of very recent growth, since the Indians of that region had known of white 
men only in their own generation. This is an interesting example of the con- 
stant adaptation of the old myths to new conditions. 



1669] ALLOUEZ IN WISCONSIN 145 

for disembarking, by reason of the inaccessible banks, we were 
forced to remain out in the stream during the night; but, 
being surprised by an unusual gust of wind, we were obliged 
to land among rocks, where our canoe would have been 
shattered if God in His Providence had not taken charge 
of our guidance. In this second danger we appealed to Him 
by the mediation of our intercessors, and afterward said 
mass in thanksgiving. 

After we had continued our voyage until the twenty- 
fifth, amid continual dangers, God indemnified us for all our 
hardships by causing us to chance upon a cabin of Pouteoua- 
tamis, who were engaged in fishing and hunting at the edge 
of the wood. They regaled us with all that they had, but 
especially with fene, which is the nut of the beech-tree, which 
they roast, and pound into flour. I had leisure to instruct 
them, and to confer baptism upon two little sick children. 

On the twenty-seventh, while we were trying to paddle 
with the utmost vigor possible, we were perceived by four 
cabins of savages named Oumalouminek,^ who forced us to 
land ; but as they were pressed with hunger, and we were at 
the end of our provisions, we could not remain long together. 

On the twenty-ninth, as the mouth of the river which we 
were to enter was frozen over, we were in great difficulty. 
We thought of making the rest of the journey to the ren- 
dezvous by land; but, a furious wind having arisen during 
the night, we found ourselves enabled, owing to the breaking- 
up of the ice, to continue our voyage. We finished it on the 
second of December, on the eve of Saint Francis Xavier's 
day, when we arrived at the place where the French were; 
and they helped us to celebrate his day with the utmost 
solemnity in our power, thanking him for the succor that he 
had procured for us during our voyage, and entreating him 
to be the patron of that mission, which we were about to start 
under his protection. 

On the following day, I celebrated holy mass, at which 
the French, to the number of eight, paid their devotions. 
As the savages had gone into winter quarters, I found here 
only one village of different nations — Ousaki, Pouteouatami, 
Outagami, Ovenibigoutz — about six hundred souls. A league 

^ The Menominee Indians, for whom see p. 76, note 1, ante. 



146 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

and a half away was another, of a hundred and fifty souls; 
four leagues distant, one of a hundred souls ; and eight leagues 
from here, on the other side of the bay, one of about three 
hundred souls. ^ 

All these nations have their fields of Indian com, squashes, 
beans, and tobacco. On this bay, in a place that they call 
Ouestatinong,^ twenty-five leagues away, there is a large 
nation named Outagami, and a day's journey from them there 
are two others, Oumami and Makskouteng.' Of all these 
peoples, a portion gained a knowledge of our Faith at Saint 
Esprit Point, where I instructed them ; we shall do so more 
fully, with Heaven's help. 

In the matter of our sustenance, we have had a good deal 
of trouble. Scarcely have we foimd material to make our 
cabin; all that we have had for food has been only Indian 
corn and acorns ; the few fish that are seen here, and that but 
seldom, are very poor ; and the water of this bay and of the 
rivers is like stagnant ditch-water. 

The savages of this region are more than usually barba- 
rous ; they are without ingenuity, and do not know how to 
make even a bark dish or a ladle ; they conmaonly use shells. 
They are grasping and avaricious to an extraordinary de- 
gree, and sell their little commodities at a high price, because 
they have only what is barely necessary. The season in 
which we arrived among them was not favorable for us : they 
were aU in a needy condition, and very little able to give us 
any assistance, so that we suffered hunger. But blessed be 
God, who gives us aU these opportunities and richly recom- 
penses, besides, all these hardships by the consolation that He 
makes us find, amid the greatest afflictions, in the quest of so 
many poor savages' souls, which are not less the work of 
His hands and the price of the blood of Jesus Christ, His 
Son, than those of the princes and sovereigns of the earth. 

^ Allouez's mission during the winter of 1669-1670 at the mixed village of 
Sauk, Potawatomi, Fox, and Winnebago, is believed to have been located on 
Oconto River, probably at the rapids where the city of Oconto, Wis., now stands. 
The village a league and a half away would have been on the Pensaukee ; that 
of four leagues distant at Peshtigo, where an Indian village existed until com- 
paratively recent times. 

* The site of this village is noted on p. 81, note 1, ante. 

» This village is located on p. 84, note 1, ante. 



1670] ALLOUEZ IN WISCONSIN 147 



Of the Mission to the Ousaki. 

The village of the Ousaki is the first where I began to 
give instruction. As soon as we were provided with a cabin 
there, I assembled all the elders, to whom, after relating the 
news of the peace with the Iroquois, I expatiated on the pur- 
pose of my journey, which was naught else than their instruc- 
tion. I explained to them the principal articles of our be- 
lief, which they heard with approval, appearing to me very 
v^^ell disposed toward Christianity. Oh, if we could succor 
them in their poverty, how flourishing our Church would be ! 
The rest of that month, I labored for their instruction, and 
gave baptism to several sick children, — having the consola- 
tion of seeing one of these, some time afterward, leave the 
Church Militant, which had received him into the number 
of her children, to enter the Church Triumphant, there to 
sing eternally the mercies of God toward him, and to be an 
advocate for the conversion of the people of his nation. 

Among those who had not heard about our mysteries 
were some irreligious persons, who made fun of them. God 
put into my mouth words wherewith to check them ; and I 
hope that, strengthened by Grace, we shall, with time and 
patience, have the consolation of winning some of them to 
Jesus Christ. Those who are Christians have come punc- 
tually every Sunday to prayers and to instruction, where we 
have the Pater and Ave chanted in their language. 

In the month of January I puiposed to go and carry the 
Gospel to another village, but it was impossible for me to go 
and settle down among them. I tried to make up for this by 
frequent visits. 

Of the Mission to the Pouteouatamis. 

On the seventeenth of February I repaired to the village 
of the Pouteouatamis, which is eight leagues from this place, 
on the other side of the lake.^ After walking aU day without 

^ The site of the Potawatomi village is thought to have been on the east 
shore of Green Bay, about six miles from the mouth of Fox River, not far from 
Point Sable. This seems to have been the village where Perrot also first en- 
countered the Potawatomi. 



148 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1670 

halting, we arrived there at sunset, sustained by some small 
bit of frozen meat that hunger made us eat. On the day after 
my arrival, they made us a present of all the fat of a bear, 
with many manifestations of affection. 

On the nineteenth, I assembled the councO, and, after 
relating the news, informed them of the purpose that had 
brought me to their country, reserving for the following day 
a fuller discourse on our religion. This I carried out with 
success and the divine blessing, causing them, of their own 
accord, to draw this conclusion, that, since the Faith was so 
necessary for avoiding Hell, they washed to pray, and hoped 
that I would procure them a missionary to instruct them, or 
else would myself stay and do them that kindness. 

In the days following, I visited all the cabins, and in- 
structed the inmates very fully in private, with satisfaction 
on both sides. I had the consolation of conferring baptism 
there on two new-born babes and on a young man who was 
djdng, who exhibited an excellent disposition. 

On the twenty-third, we set out to return thence ; but the 
wind, which froze our faces, and the snow, compelled us to 
halt, after we had gone two leagues, and to pass the night 
on the lake. On the following day, the severity of the cold 
having diminished, although very little, we continued our 
journey with much suffering. On my part, I had my nose 
frozen, and I had a fainting fit that compelled me to sit down 
on the ice, where I should have remained, my companions 
having gone on ahead, if, by a divine providence, I had not 
found in my handkerchief a clove, wluch gave me strength 
enough to reach the settlement. 

At the opening of the month of March, the great thaws 
having begun, the savages broke up their settlements to go 
in quest of the means to sustain life, after being for some time 
pressed with hunger. 

I was very sorry not to have been able to go through all 
the villages, by reason of the remoteness of some of them, and 
the little inclination of others to receive me. I resolved to 
try at least to establish Christianity firmly in a neighboring 
village, composed for the most part of Pouteouatamis. Call- 
ing the men together twice, I ex-plained to them fully our 
mysteries and the obligation resting upon them to embrace 



1670] ALLOUEZ IN WISCONSIN 149 

our Faith ; and that this was the sole reason that had brought 
me to their country in the autumn. They received veiy favor- 
ably all that I said to them, and I often visited them in their 
cabins, to inculcate in the inmates what I had taught themx in 
public. I baptized some sick children there, and received 
great consolation in the assurance which certain persons gave 
me that, since hearing me five years ago at the Point of Saint 
Esprit, on Lake Superior, they had always invoked the true 
God. They said that they had been very appreciably pro- 
tected by Him; that they had always succeeded in their 
hunting and fishing; that they had not been ill, and that, 
in their families, death did not occur so frequently as was 
usual before they adopted prayer. On another day, I taught 
the catechism to the girls and women, our cabin being entirely 
filled. These poor people are very well disposed, and show 
great good will ; many of them question me on various matters, 
in order to receive instruction, propounding to me their diflB.- 
culties, which arise only from their high idea of Christianity, 
and from their fear of not being able to fulfill its obligations. 
Our stay was not long, as hunger was pressing them, and they 
were forced to go in search of provisions. We withdrew full 
of consolation, praising and blessing God that His holy name 
had been respected, and the holy Faith well received, by these 
barbarian peoples. 

On the 21st of that month, I took the sun's altitude, and 
found that this was about 46 degrees, 40 minutes; and its 
elevation from the pole, or the complement of the above, 
was about 43 degrees, 20 minutes.^ 

The ice did not break up here until the 12th of April, the 
winter having been extremely severe this year; and conse- 
quently navigation was much impeded. 

On the 16th of April, I embarked to go and begin the 
mission to the Outagamis, a people of considerable note in 
all these regions. We slept at the head of the bay, at the 
mouth of the River des Puans, which we have named for 

^In 1902 a combined sun-dial and compass of French manufacture was 
found on the site of this village. It apparently dates from the seventeenth 
century, and on the reverse contains notes of the latitude of principal places in 
New France. It was with some similar instrument that Allouez took his ob- 
servation. The true latitude is about 44° 31'. 



150 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1670 

Saint Francis.^ On our way we saw clouds of swans, bus- 
tards, and ducks. The savages set snares for them at the 
head of the bay, where they catch as many as fifty in one 
night, this game seeking in autumn the wild oats that the 
wind has shaken off in the month of September. 

On the 17th, we ascended the River Saint Frangois, which 
is two, and sometimes three, arpents wide.^ After proceed- 
ing four leagues, we found the village of the savages called 
Saky, whose people were beginning a work that well deserves 
to have its place here. From one bank of the river to the 
other they make a barricade by driving down large stakes 
in two brasses of water, so that there is a kind of bridge over 
the stream for the fishermen, who, with the help of a small 
weir, easily catch the sturgeon and every other kind of fish, 
— ^which this dam stops, although the water does not cease to 
flow between the stakes.^ They call this contrivance Miti- 
hikan, and it serves them during the spring and a part of the 
summer. 

On the eighteenth we passed the portage called by the 
natives Kekaling,^ our sailors dragging the canoe among 
rapids, while I walked on the river-bank, where I found apple- 
trees and vine-stocks in great numbers. 

On the 19th, our sailors ascended the rapids for two 
leagues by the use of poles, and I went by land as far as the 
other portage, which they call Ooukocitiming, that is to say, 
"the bank."^ We observed on this same day the eclipse 
of the sun predicted by the astrologers, which lasted from 
noon until two o'clock; a third of the sun's disk, or nearly 
that, appeared to be eclipsed, the other two-thirds making 

^ Fox River was first known as Riviere des Puans ; after the removal of 
the Outagami or Fox Indians to its banks (about 1680) it acquired their name, 
which in varying forms it has since retained. 

2 The French arpent was an area a Httle larger than an acre, or about 220 
feet square. The meaning is that the river is 400, or at times 600, feet wide. 

3 This primitive weir was at the rapids later called De Pere from the estab- 
lishment there of the Jesuit mission. The place is now covered by a govern- 
ment dam. 

* This rapid was at the site of the modern Kaukauna, which is a variation 
of the Indian name. In all early navigation of the Fox, these rapids had to be 
portaged. 

6 Probably Grand Chute, at the site of the present city of Appleton. 



1670] ALLOUEZ IN WISCONSIN 151 

a crescent.* We arrived in the evening at the entrance to 
Lake des Puans, which we have named Lake Saint Fran- 
gois; it is about twelve leagues long and four wide, extends 
from the north-northeast to the south-southwest, and abounds 
in fish, but is uninhabited, on account of the Nadouecis, who 
are there held in fear.^ 

On the twentieth, which was Sunday, I said mass, after 
voyaging five or six leagues on the lake, after which we came 
to a river, flowing from a lake bordered with wild oats ; this 
stream we followed, and found at the end of it the river that 
leads to the Outagamis, in one direction, and that which 
leads to the Machkoutenck, in the other. We entered this 
first stream, which flows from a lake;^ there we saw two 
turkeys perched on a tree, male and female, resembling per- 
fectly those of France — the same size, the same color, and the 
same cry. Bustards, ducks, swans, and geese are in great 
number on aU these lakes and rivers, the wild oats, on which 
they live, attracting them thither. There are large and 
small stags, bears, and beavers in great abundance. 

On the twenty-fourth, after turning and doubling several 
times in various lakes and rivers, we arrived at the village of 
the Outagamis. 

This people came in crowds to meet us, in order to see, 
as they said, the Manitou, who was coming to their country. 
They accompanied us with respect as far as the door of the 
cabin, which we were made to enter. 

This nation is renowned for being populous, the men 
who bear arms numbering more than four hundred; while 
the number of women and children there is the greater on 
accoimt of the polygamy which prevails among them, each 
man having commonly four wives, some having six, and others 

1 The solar eclipse of April 19, 1670, was total in the northernmost parts 
of North America. A description of the phenomena observed at Quebec occurs 
in this Relation just after the portion we extract. 

2 This lake still retains the tribal name Winnebago. It is the largest in 
Wisconsin, about thirty miles long by eleven at its widest part. The Nadouecis 
were the Sioux tribes. See p. 24, note 1, ante. 

* After crossing Lake Winnebago to the site of Oshkosh, the missionary 
entered upper Fox River; thence through Lake Butte des Morts, a widening 
of the stream, he reached the entrance of Wolf River, whose course he followed 
to the Outagami village. 



152 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1670 

as many as ten. Six large cabins of these poor people were 
put to rout this month of March by eighteen Iroquois from 
Tsonnontouan/ who, under the guidance of two fugitive 
Iroquois slaves of the Pouteouatamis, made an onslaught, 
and killed all the people, except thirty women whom they led 
away as captives. As the men were away hunting, they met 
with but little resistance, there being only six warriors left in 
the cabins, besides the women and children, who numbered 
a hundred or thereabout. This carnage was committed two 
days' journey from the place of our winter quarters, at the 
foot of the Lake of the Ilinioues, which is called Machihi- 
ganing.2 

On the twenty-fifth, I called together the elders in a 
large assembly, with the purpose of giving them the first 
acquaintance with our mysteries. I began with the invoca- 
tion of the Holy Ghost, to whom we had made our appeal 
during our journey, to pray for His blessing upon our labors. 
Then, when I had, by means of a present which I thought I 
ought to make them, dried the tears which the remembrance 
of the massacre peipetrated by the Iroquois caused them to 
shed, I explained to them the principal articles of our Faith, 
and made known the law and the commandments of God, the 
rewards promised to those that shall obey Him, and the pun- 
ishments prepared by Him for those that shall not obey Him. 
They understood me without my having need of an inter- 
preter, and that, too, with attention ; but, oh, my God ! 
what ideas and ways contrary to the Gospel these poor peo- 
ple have, and how much need there is of very powerful grace 
to conquer their hearts! They accept the unity and sover- 
eignty of God, Creator of all things ; for the rest, they have 
not a word to say. 

An Outagami told me, in private, that his ancestor had 
come from Heaven, and that he had preached the unity and 
the sovereignty of a God who had made all the other gods; 
that he had assured them that he would go to Heaven after 
his death, where he should die no more; and that his body 
would not be found in the place where it had been buried, 

^Thls is the Algonquian-French appellation of the Seneca tribe of the 
Iroquois confederacy. 

* Lake Michigan. This Iroquois attack occurred near the site of Chicago. 



1670] ALLOUEZ IN WISCONSIN 153 

which was verified, said this Outagami, the body being no 
longer found where it had been put. These are fables which 
God uses for their salvation ; for after the man had finished 
telling me everything, he added that he was dismissing all 
his wives, retaining only one, whom he would not change; 
and that he was resolved to obey me and pray to God. I 
hope that God will show him mercy. I tried to visit the 
people in their cabins, which are in very great number, some- 
times for the purpose of instructing them in private, and 
at other times to go and carry them some little medicine, 
or, rather, something sweet for their little sick children, whom 
I was baptizing. Toward the end, they brought them to 
me voluntarily in the cabin where I lodged. 

I spoke their language, in the assurance they gave me 
that they understood me; it is the same as that of the Satzi.^ 
But alas, what difficulty they have in apprehending a law that 
is so opposed to all their customs ! 

These savages withdrew to those regions to escape the 
persecution of the Iroquois, and settled in an excellent coun- 
try, the soil, which is black there, yielding them Indian corn 
in abundance. They live by hunting during the winter, re- 
turning to their cabins toward its close, and living there on 
Indian corn that they had hidden away the previous autumn ; 
they season it with fish. In the midst of their clearings they 
have a fort, where their cabins of heavy bark are situated, for 
resisting all sorfs of attacks. On their journeys, they make 
themselves cabins with mats. They are at war with the Na- 
douecious, their neighbors. Canoes are not used by them; 
and, for that reason, they do not make war on the Iroquois, 
although they are often killed by them. They are held in 
very low estimation, and are considered by the other nations 
as stingy, avaricious, thieving, choleric, and quarrelsome. 
They have poor opinion of the French, ever since two traders 
in beaver-skins appeared among them ; if these men had be- 
haved as they ought, I should have had less trouble in giv- 
ing these poor people other ideas of the whole French 
nation, which they are beginning to esteem, since I explained 
to them the principal and only motive that brought me to 
their country. 

1 Misprint for Saki (Sauk). 



154 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1670 

On the twenty-sixth, the elders came into the cabin where 
I was lodging, to hold council there. The assembly having 
been convened, the captain, after laying at my feet a present 
of some skins, harangued in the following terms: "We thank 
thee," he said, "for having come to visit and console us in 
our affliction ; and we are the more obliged to thee, inasmuch 
as no one has hitherto shown us that kindness." They 
added that they had nothing further to say to me, except 
that they were too dispirited to speak to me, being all oc- 
cupied in mourning their dead. "Do thou, black gown, who 
art not dispirited and who takest pity on people, take pity 
on us as thou shalt deem best. Thou couldst dwell here near 
us, to protect us from our enemies, and teach us to speak 
to the great Manitou, the same as thou teachest the savages 
of the Sault. Thou couldst cause to be restored to us our 
wives, who were led away prisoners. Thou couldst stay the 
arms of the Iroquois, and speak to them of peace in our be- 
half for the future. I have no sense to say anything to thee ; 
only take pity on us in the way thou shalt judge most fitting. 
When thou seest the Iroquois, tell them that they have taken 
me for some one else. I do not make war on them, I have 
not eaten their people ; but my neighbors took them prisoners 
and made me a present of them ; I adopted them, and they 
are living here as my children." This speech has nothing of 
the barbarian m it. I told them that in the treaty of peace 
which the French had made with the Iroquois, no mention 
had been made of them ; that no Frenchman had then been 
here, and that they were not known ; that, as to other matters, 
I much approved what their captain had said ; that I would 
not forget it, and that in the following autumn I would render 
them an answer. MeanwhOe, I told them to fortify themselves 
in their resolution to obey the true God, who alone could pro- 
cure them what they asked for, and infinitely more. 

In the evening four savages, of the nation of the Ouma- 
mis,^ arrived from a place two days' journey hence, bring- 

1 The Miami (Oumami) Indians were closely allied in language and cus- 
toms to the Illinois. Their habitat was in northern Indiana and eastern Il- 
linois, whence they had been driven by the Iroquois into Wisconsin, and had 
formed a village with the Mascoutin (Machkoutench) on the upper Fox. La 
Salle found the Miami on St. Joseph River in 1678. By the eighteenth century 



1670] ALLOUEZ IN WISCONSIN 155 

ing three Iroquois scalps and a half-smoked arm, to console 
the relatives of those whom the Iroquois had killed a short 
time before. 

On the twenty-seventh, we took our departure, com- 
mending to the good angels the first seed sown in the hearts 
of these poor people, who listened to me with respect and 
attention. There is a glorious and rich harvest for a zeal- 
ous and patient missionary. We named this mission after 
Saint Mark, because on has day the Faith was proclaimed 
there. ^ 

0/ the Mission to the Oumamis and Machkoutench. 

On the twenty-ninth, we entered the river which leads to 
the Machkoutench, who are called by the Hurons Assista 
Ectaeronnons, "Nation of Fire." This river is very beautiful, 
without rapids or portages, and flows toward the south- 
west.2 

On the thirtieth, landing opposite the village and leaving 
our canoe at the water's edge, after walking a league through 
beautiful prairies, we perceived the fort. The savages, 
espying us, immediately gave the cry in their village, hastened 
to meet us, and accompanied us with honor into the cabin 
of the chief, where refreshments were straightway brought 
to us, and the feet and legs of the Frenchmen with me were 
anointed with oil. Afterward a feast was prepared, which 
was attended with the following ceremonies. When all were 
seated, and after some had filled a dish with powdered to- 
bacco, an old man arose and, turning to me, with both hands 
full of tobacco which he took from the dish, harangued me as 
follows : " This is well, black gown, that thou comest to visit 
us. Take pity on us; thou art a Manitou; we give thee 
tobacco to smoke. The Nadouessious and the Iroquois are 
eating us; take pity on us. We are often ill, our children 
are dying, we are hungry. Hear me, Manitou ; I give thee 
tobacco to smoke. Let the earth give us corn, and the rivers 

they had migrated to Ohio, where the Maumee, Great and Little Miami Rivers 
perpetuate their memory. 

1 St. Mark's day is April 25. 

* Fox River comes from the southwest, not flows toward it. AUouez was 
advancing toward the southwest. 



156 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1670 

yield us fish ; let not disease kill us any more, or famine treat us 
any longer so harshly ! " At each desire the old men who were 
present uttered a loud "Oh!" in response. I had a horror 
of this ceremony, and, begging them to hear me, I told them 
it was not I to whom their vows must be addressed ; that in 
our necessities I had recourse to prayer to Him who is the 
only and the true God ; that it was in Him that they ought 
to place their trust ; I told them that He was the sole Master 
of all things, as well as of their lives, I being only His servant 
and envoy ; that He was my sovereign Lord, as well as my 
host's; and that wise men nevertheless willingly honored 
and listened to the black gown, as being a person who is heard 
by the great God and is His interpreter. His officer, and His 
domestic. They offered us a veritable sacrifice like that 
which they make to their false gods. 

Toward evening, I gathered them together, and made 
them a present of glass beads, knives, and hatchets, that I 
might say to them: "Become acquainted with the black 
gown. I am not the Manitou who is the master of your lives, 
and has created Heaven and Earth; I am His creature, I 
obey Him, and I bear His word through all the earth." I 
then explained to them the articles of our holy Faith, and 
God's commandments. These good people only half under- 
stood me; but, before I left them, I had the consolation of 
seeing that they comprehended our principal articles of be- 
lief; they received the Gospel with respect and awe, and 
showed themselves well satisfied to have a knowledge of the 
true God. 

The savages named Oumamis are here only in very small 
numbers, their main body having not yet come in from their 
hunting; therefore I say almost nothing about them in de- 
tail. Their language is in harmony with their disposition : 
they are gentle, affable, sedate ; they also speak slowly. This 
whole nation was to arrive in sixteen days; but, obedience 
calling me to the Sault, I was not at liberty to wait for them. 

These people are settled in a very attractive place, where 
beautiful plains and fields meet the eye as far as one can see. 
Their river leads by a six days' voyage to the great river 
named Messi-Sipi, and it is along the former river that the 
other populous nations are situated. Four leagues from here 



1670] ALLOUEZ IN WISCONSIN 157 

are the Kikabou and the Kitchigamich, who speak the same 
language as the Machkouteng.^ 

On the first of May, I went to visit them in their cabins ; 
and I instructed them, speaking their language sufficiently to 
make myself understood by them. They heard me with re- 
spect, admired the main features of our Faith, and were 
eager to lavish on me all the best things they had. Those 
poor mountaineers are kind beyond all power of behef; but 
they do not fail to have their superstitions, and to practise 
polygamy, as is customary with the savages. 

The courtesies that they showed me kept me busy al- 
most all day : they came to my cabin to give me an invita- 
tion, conducted me to their own, and, after making me sit 
down on a fine new piece of fur, presented me a handful of 
tobacco, which they placed at my feet ; and brought me a 
kettle full of fat, meat, and Indian corn, accompanying it 
with a speech or a compliment. I always took occasion 
thereupon to inform them of the truths of our Faith, while 
God, by His grace, never failed to make me understood, 
their language being the same as that of the Saki. 

I baptized there five children who were in danger of dying, 
whom they themselves brought to me that I might give them 
medicine. When, at times, I sought retirement for the pur- 
pose of praying, they would follow me, and, from time to 
time, come and interrupt me, saying to me in a suppliant tone, 
"Manitou, take pity on us!" In truth, they taught me the 
respect and affection with which I ought to address God. 

On the second of May, the elders came to our cabin to 
hold a council ; they thanked me, by an address and by some 
gift, for having come to their country ; and they exhorted me 
to come thither often. "Guard our land," they said; "come 
often, and teach us how we are to speak to that great Mani- 
tou whom thou hast made us know." This people appears 
very docile. See there a mission all in readiness, and capable 
of giving, in conjunction with the two neighboring nations, 
full occupation to a missionary. As we were pressed for time, 

^The Kickapoo (Kikabou) were kindred to the Mascoutin (Machkouteng); 
they later dwelt with them on the Wabash. A remnant of the tribe is extant. 
The Kitchigamich are not positively identified. They may have been a wander- 
ing portion of the Michigamea, for whom see Marquette's narrative, post. 



158 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1670 

I set out to return to the place whence I had come ; and ar- 
rived there safely, proceeding by way of the River Saint 
Frangois, in three days. 

On the sixth, I paid a visit to the Oumalouminek, eight 
leagues distant from our cabin, and found them at their 
river ^ in small numbers, the young people being still in the 
woods. This nation has been almost exterminated by the 
wars. I had difficulty in understanding them, but in time 
made the discovery that their language is Algonquin, although 
much corrupted. They succeeded in understanding me better 
than I understood them. After making a little present to 
the elders, I proclaimed the Gospel to them, which they ad- 
mired and heard with respect. 

On the ninth, the elders invited me to their council, and 
there made me a present, with an expression of thanks for my 
having come to visit them in order to give them a knowledge 
of the true God. "Take heart," they said to me; "instruct 
us often, and teach us to speak to Him who has made all 
things." This mission we have named after Saint Michael, 
as well as the river where they dwell. 

On the tenth, when I arrived at the settlement, a Poute- 
ouatami, not daring to ask me for news, addressed our dog in 
these words : " Tell me, captain's dog, what is the state of 
affairs among the Oumacouminetz ? Thy master has told 
thee; thou hast followed him everywhere. Do not conceal 
the matter from me, for I dare not ask him about it." I saw 
well what his design was. 

On the thirteenth I crossed the bay to go to find the 
Ovenibigoutz^ in their clearings, where they were assem- 
bling. The next day, I held council with the old men and the 
youth, and proclaimed the Gospel to them, as I had done to 
the others. About thirty years ago, all the people of this 
nation were killed or taken captive by the Hiniouek, with the 
exception of a single man who escaped, shot through the 
body with an arrow. When the Hiniouetz had sent back his 

^The Menominee River is now the boundary between Wisconsin and 
Michigan. 

* The Winnebago tribe. Allouez in the following paragraph refers to the 
traditional Illinois-Winnebago war, which was waged early in the seventeenth 
century, and which greatly weakened the Winnebago. 



1670] ALLOUEZ IN WISCONSIN 159 

captive countrymen to inhabit the country anew, he was 
made captain of his nation, as having never been a slave. 

They speak a peculiar language which the other savages 
do not understand ; it resembles neither the Huron nor the 
Algonquin. There are, they say, only certain tribes of the 
southwest who speak as they do. I learned some words from 
them, but more especially the Catechism, the Pater, and the 
Ave. 

I visited them in their cabins and instructed them, doing 
the same to the Pouteouatamis who live with them ; and both 
asked me, with gifts, to come and instruct them in the follow- 
ing autumn. 

Condition of the Christians. 

We cannot make our Christians live strictly up to their 
profession of Christianity, on account of the way in which 
we are obliged to live among them in the beginning ; having 
only a cabin, after their own mode, we cannot instruct them, 
or perform the other exercises of religion at stated times, 
as is done in a chapel. We have, however, tried to call them 
together every Sunday, to teach them the Catechism and make 
them pray to God. We have here seven adult Christians 
and forty-eight others, either children or persons almost grown 
up, whom we baptized when they were dangerously iU, a part 
of them at the Point of Saint Esprit, and a part in these dis- 
tricts during the past winter. I do not count those who have 
died, who are about seventeen in number. I have received 
consolation this winter from seeing the fervor of our Chris- 
tians, but especially that of a girl named Marie Movena,* who 
was baptized at the Point of Saint Esprit. From last spring 
up to the present time, she has resisted her relatives : despite 
all the efforts they have made to compel her to marry her 
stepbrother, she has never consented to do it. Her brother 
has often struck her, and her mother has frequently refused 
her anything to eat, sometimes reaching such a pitch of anger 
that she would take a firebrand and burn her daughter's arms 
with it. This poor girl told me about all this bad treatment ; 
but her courage could never be shaken, and she willingly made 
an offering of all her sufferings to God. 

As far as concerns the infidels hereabout, they greatly 



160 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1670 

fear God's judgments and Hell's torments. The unity and 
sovereignty of God are very satisfying to their minds. Oh, if 
these poor people had the aids and the means that Europeans 
have in abundance for accomplishing their salvation, they 
would soon be good Christians. Oh, if they saw something 
of the magnificence of our churches, of the devotion with 
which they are frequented, of the extensive charities that are 
maintained for the benefit of the poor in the hospitals, I am 
sure that they would be greatly affected thereby. 

On the twentieth, I embarked with a Frenchman and a 
savage to go to Sainte Marie du Sault, whither obedience 
called me, leaving all these peoples in the hope that we should 
see them again next autumn, as I had promised them. 

In conclusion we add here that, as a reenforcement to the 
workers in so large a mission, there have been sent to it Father 
Gabriel Drouillette, one of the oldest and most influential 
missionaries; and Father Louys Andre, who arrived here 
last year and was at the very outset assigned to this mis- 
sion.^ He accordingly arrived there after having served a 
novitiate of a year here, as missionary among the Algonquins 
who make their abode in these parts. 

' Gabriel Druillettes (1610-1681) arrived in Canada in 1643, and was em- 
ployed at the Abenaki mission in Maine, at Tadoussac, and at various Algon- 
quian missions along the St. Lawrence. He came to Sault Ste. Marie in 1671 
and remained there nearly ten years. Louis Andre, born in 1631, reached New 
France in June, 1669. He remained at the upper missions about thirteen years, 
doing good service in Wisconsin and at St. Ignace. After a professorship of 
some years at Quebec, he died there in 1715. 



THE JOURNEY OF DOLLIER AND GALINEE, BY 
GALINEE, 1669-1670 



INTRODUCTION 

Zealous and devoted as were the Jesuit missionaries of 
New France, they were not the only reUgious order to whom 
the great adventure appealed, nor the only priests to seek 
for converts in the heart of the American continent. 

In the midst of old Montreal still stands by the water- 
side the grim, gray seminary of St. Sulpice, whose founders 
were the seigneurs of the city and who still own much of its 
landed territory. The brothers of St. Sulpice, an order founded 
in Paris in 1641, were brave and gallant men, many of them 
of noble birth and lofty ideals. They dreamed of an empire 
in New France that should be the Kingdom of God upon the 
earth, and with the coming to Montreal of the Western In- 
dians for their yearly barter, fair opportunities opened to the 
Sulpicians for mission work among the tribesmen. Already 
the brother of the great Fenelon had begun a mission on the 
north shore of Lake Ontario, when a chance came to open new 
mission territory in the Far Southwest. The governor of New 
France fostered the enterprise for the exploration's sake, and 
in midsummer of 1669 a brave little flotilla of seven birch-bark 
canoes set off from the water-gate of St. Sulpice to seek a 
new route into the Western unknown. 

Three remarkable men, all in the vigor of early life, were 
leaders of this expedition. Frangois Dollier de Casson, power- 
ful in frame, erect and soldierly of bearing, was a Breton of 
noble family, who had served as cavalry captain under the great 
Turenne. Although but thirty-three years old, he had been 
three years in Canada, and had learned the Algonquian tongue 
by wintering in the huts of the savages. Burning with a desire 

163 



164 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

for their conversion, he had persuaded his superior to permit 
him to explore for unknown tribes who might listen to the 
gospel message with more docility than those who had been 
longer in contact with the French. In 1671 he became su- 
perior of St. Sulpice at Montreal, and the head of its religious 
interests, and there he died in September, 1701. 

Dollier de Casson was the originator and leader of the ex- 
pedition. At the last moment it was decided to associate 
with him a newly-arrived member of the order, Rene de 
Brehant de Galinee, likewise of a noble Breton family. He 
had reached Montreal in the late summer of 1668, and, being 
an expert mathematician, was chosen to accompany the ex- 
pedition as map-maker and chronicler. A shrewd observer 
and ready writer, possessed of a keen sense of the picturesque, 
Galinee gives us in the following pages one of the most inter- 
esting narratives of travel that has survived from the seven- 
teenth century. His New World experiences were limited. 
In 1671 he returned to France, never again to visit the great 
wilderness whose waterways he so vividly described. 

The third member of the expedition was still younger than 
the two priests, but destined to leave a permanent impress on 
the history of North America. Robert Rene Cavalier, Sieur 
de La Salle, was a Norman from Rouen, where his father was 
a wealthy burgher interested in the fortunes of the Company of 
New France. Robert's elder brother Jean had preceded him 
to Canada, where as a member of the Sulpician order he was 
in a position to aid his younger brother. Upon the latter's 
arrival, in 1666, he had secured for him a seigneury on the upper 
end of Montreal Island, named, in derision of his ambition 
for Western exploration, La Chine. That it might lead to the 
discovery of a new water-route to China was apparently La 
Salle's earliest hope. With a quick and comprehensive mind 
he readily mastered the Algonquian language, and the winter 
before his first journey entertained upon his fief two Seneca 



INTRODUCTION 165 

Indians, from whom he learned of the existence of south- 
westerly-flowing streams. 

Filled with his project, he sought the governor at Quebec, 
who consented to his expedition, prudently stipulating, how- 
ever, that La Salle himself should bear the necessary expense. 
To provide for this La Salle resold his seigneury to the priests 
of St. Sulpice, and at the governor's instance joined forces 
with them in their projected expedition. 

So far as is recorded, this was the first journey from the lower 
Great Lakes to the upper ones, the first expedition to come 
within sound, if not within sight, of the cataract of Niagara, 
the first to map the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie. The 
incidents of the voyage are so graphically given by Gahn^e 
that the reader can follow the travellers with ease. La Salle 
accompanied them only to the head of Lake Ontario; into 
the vexed question of his further route we need not here enter. 

After a winter near Port Dover, in southern Ontario, the 
two priests set forth in March for their Western journey. In 
May they arrived at the Jesuit mission at Sault Ste. Marie; 
by June they were again at St. Sulpice in Montreal, having 
made the grand tour of the Great Lakes during an absence 
of a little less than a year. 

Galinee's manuscript account of their voyage is in the 
Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris, in the Renaudot collection, 
whose founder was a friend of the Sulpitian missionaries. It 
is a small manuscript of forty-eight pages, evidently written 
upon the author's return to Montreal, while every incident 
was fresh in his memory. DoUier de Casson generously com- 
mends it, saying: "I wrote a long account of [the voyage], 
but as it is much inferior to that of M. de Galin^e I have 
thought best to omit it, because M. de Galinee's description 
will give you much more satisfaction." 

The manuscript was found in 1847, in the library named, 
by Pierre Margry, who had it copied and furnished transcripts 



166 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

to Parkman and several Canadian historians. In 1875 the 
Historical Society of Montreal published a version from which 
several important paragraphs were omitted, and in which 
many verbal changes were made. Margry republished it 
in his Decouvertes et Etablissements des Frangais dans VAmerique 
Septentrionale, I. 112-166. This was collated with the original 
manuscript; and first translated into English, by James H. 
Coyne, who published the narrative bilingually in the Ontario 
Historical Society Papers and Records, vol. IV. We reprint 
from this edition the English version, pp. 1-75. The original 
manuscript at the Bibliothdque Nationale is in vol. 30 of the 
Collection Renaudot. 



THE JOURNEY OF DOLLIER AND GALINEE, 

1669-1670 

Narrative of the Most Noteworthy Incidents in the Journey of 
Messieurs Dottier and Galinee. 

In the year 1669 M. DoUier spent part of the winter with a 
Nipissing chief named Nitarikyk in order to learn in the woods 
the Algonkin language. The chief had a slave the Ottawas had 
presented to him in the preceding year, from a very remote 
tribe in the southwest. This slave was sent by his master 
to Montreal on some errand. He came and saw here the Abbe 
de Queylus/ in whose presence he gave so naive a descrip- 
tion of the route to his country that he made everybody be- 
lieve he was thoroughly familiar with it, and could easily con- 
duct any persons that should wish to go there with him. 

The Abb^ de Queylus, who is very zealous for the salva- 
tion of the Indians of this country, saw that the man might 
be of great service in the conversion of his countrymen, who, 
he said, were very numerous. So he thought he could not 
do better than write M. DoUier by this same slave, that if he 
was still of the same disposition that he had long since mani- 
fested to him, to labor for the salvation of the Indians, he be- 
lieved God was presenting an excellent opportunity by means 
of this slave. The latter would be able to conduct him 
amongst tribes hitherto unknown to the French, and perhaps 
more tractable than those we have hitherto known, amongst 
whom, so far, it has been found impossible to produce any 
result. 

M. DoUier, who was actuaUy intending to sacrifice himself 

1 Gabriel, Abbe de Queylus, the head of the Montreal establishment of 
Sulpicians, arrived in New France in the summer of 1657 ; during his term as 
vicar general he made three voyages to France, returning permanently in 1671, 
and dying there in 1677. His relations with the Jesuit order were not cordial, 
and he desired to rival their missionary work among the Western Indians. 

167 



168 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

in some of the missions of this country, seized this opportu- 
nity as if it had been sent him from God, and made great friends 
with the slave, endeavoring to acquire from him some knowl- 
edge of his native tongue. In short, he managed so well 
with the man that he extracted a promise from him to conduct 
him to his own country. 

With this purpose in view M. Dollier returned from the 
woods in advance of the Indians with whom he was sojourning, 
in order to go to Quebec to buy the necessary supplies for the 
undertaking, after receiving the necessary orders from M. de 
Queylus. 

It was at this place that M. de CourceUes^ requested him 
to unite with M. de la Salle, a brother of M. Cavelier, in order 
that they might together make the journey M. de la Salle 
had been long premeditating towards a great river, which he 
had understood (by what he thought he had learned from the 
Indians) had its course towards the west, and at the end of 
which, after seven or eight months' travelling, these Indians 
said the land was "cut," that is to say, according to their 
manner of speaking, the river fell into the sea. This river is 
called, in the language of the Iroquois, "Ohio."^ On it are 
settled a multitude of tribes, from which as yet no one has 
been seen here, but so numerous are they that, according to 
the Indians' report, a single nation will include fifteen or 
twenty villages. The hope of beaver, but especially of finding 
by this route the passage into the Vermillion Sea, into which 
M. de la Salle believed the River Ohio emptied, induced him 
to undertake this expedition, so as not to leave to another the 
honor of discovering the passage to the South Sea, and thereby 
the way to China.^ 

M. de Courcelles, the governor of this country, was willing 
to support this project, in which M. de la Salle showed him 
some probability by a great number of fine speeches, of which 

^ Daniel de Remy, Sieur de Courcelles, was governor of New France from 
1665 to 1672. He imposed a peace upon the Iroquois after an invasion of the 
Mohawk lands in central New York. 

* The word "Ohio" is said to mean beautiful, therefore the French usually 
called the stream La Belle Rivifere. 

' The Vermillion Sea was the Gulf of California, leading to the South Sea, 
now the Pacific Ocean, thence across to China, the goal of early New World ex- 
ploration. 



1669] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALIN^E 169 

he has no lack. But in short, this expedition tended to a 
discovery, that could not be otherwise than glorious to the 
person under whose government it was made, and, moreover, 
it was costing him nothing. 

The project having been authorized by the Governor, 
letters patent were despatched to M. de la Salle, granting 
permission to search in all the forests, and all the rivers and 
lakes of Canada, to see if there might not be something good 
in them, and requesting the governors of provinces in which 
he might arrive, such as Virginia, Florida, etc., to allow him 
passage, and render assistance as they would wish us to do 
for them in like case. It was to help on this project, more- 
over, that M. DoUier was requested by the Governor to turn 
his zeal towards the tribes dwelling on the River Ohio and to 
agree to accompany M. de la Salle. Permission, moreover, 
was given to soldiers who wished to undertake this expedition 
to leave the ranks. At all events, the expedition made a great 
noise. 

Messieurs Dollier and de la Salle went up to Montreal 
again, after making their purchases at Quebec, and bought 
all the canoes they could, in order to be able to take as large 
a party as possible. M. Barthelemy was intended to be a 
member of the party, and had, as well as M. Dollier, received 
authority from the Bishop of Canada.^ Accordingly, towards 
the end of the month of June, 1669, everybody was preparing 
in good earnest to set out. M. de la Salle wished to take five 
canoes and fourteen men, and Messieurs Dollier and Barthe- 
lemy three canoes and seven men. 

The talk was already of starting as soon as possible, and 
every one had done his packing, when it occurred to the Abb6 
de Queylus that M. de la Salle might possibly abandon our 
gentlemen, and that his temper, which was known to be rather 
volatile, might lead him to quit them at the first whim, per- 
haps when it was most necessary to have some one with a 
little skill in finding his bearings for the return journey, or 

^ Francois de Laval de Montmorency was the first bishop of Canada. 
Born near Chartres in 1622, he was educated as a Jesuit, came to Canada in 
1659 as vicar apostolic, was chosen bishop of Quebec in 1674, resigned in 1685, 
and died at Quebec in 1708. A patron of education, the Seminary of Quebec was 
his legacy to Canada. 



170 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

acquainted with the situation of known countries, in order 
not to get them into difficulties through imprudence; and, 
besides, it was desirable to have some trustworthy map of the 
route that was contemplated. 

It was from these considerations that the Abbe de Queylus 
permitted me to accompany M. Dollier when I asked his 
leave. I had already some smattering of mathematics, enough 
to construct a map in a sort of fashion, but still sufficiently 
accurate to enable me to find my way back again from any 
place I might go to in the woods and streams of this country. 
Besides, they were glad to leave some person here who knew 
Algonkin, to serve as an interpreter to the Ottawas, when they 
come here. Accordingly I was accepted for the expedition in 
the place of M. Barth^lemy, who, from his perfect knowledge 
of the Algonkin language, could be more useful at this place 
than myself. 

1 had only three days to get my crew together. I took 
two men and a canoe, with some goods suitable to barter for 
provisions with the tribes through which we were to pass, 
and was ready to embark as soon as the rest. The precipi- 
tancy with which my journey was decided upon did not per- 
mit me to write the Bishop and the Governor. 

Our fleet, consisting of seven canoes, each with three men, 
left Montreal on the 6th of July, 1669, under the guidance 
of two canoes of Seneca Iroquois,^ who had come to Montreal 
as early as the autumn of the year 1668 to do their hunting 
and trading. These people whilst here had stayed a long 
time at M. de la Salle's, and had told him so many marvels 
of the River Ohio, with which they said they were thoroughly 
acquainted, that they inflamed in him more than ever the 
desire to see it. They told him that this river took its rise 
three days' journey from Seneca, that after a month's travel 
one came upon the Honniasontkeronons and the Chioua- 
nons,2 and that, after passing the latter, and a great cataract 
or waterfaU that there is in this river, one found the Outagame 

* The Seneca, called by the French Sonontouans (or Tsonontouans), was 
the most westerly division of the Iroquois. 

2 The latter tribe was that of the Shawnee ; the former probably a sub- 
division of that tribe, whom the Iroquois called Ontonagannhas, meaning the 
rude, barbarous people. 



1669] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALINEE 171 

and the country of the Iskousogos/ and finally a country so 
abundant in roebucks and wild cattle that they were as thick 
as the woods, and so great a number of tribes that there could 
not be more. 

M. de la Salle reported all these things to M. DoUier, whose 
zeal became more and more ardent for the salvation of these 
poor Indians, who perhaps would have made good use of the 
word of God, if it had been proclaimed to them ; and the great- 
ness of this zeal prevented M. DoUier from remarking that M. 
de la Salle, who said that he understood the Iroquois per- 
fectly, and had learned all these things from them through his 
perfect acquaintance with their language, did not know it at 
all, and was embarking upon this expedition almost blindly, 
scarcely knowing where he was going. He had been led to 
expect that by making some present to the village of the 
Senecas he could readily procure slaves of the tribes to which 
he intended to go, who might serve him as guides. 

As for myself, I would not start from here unless I could 
take with me a man who knew Iroquois. I have applied my- 
self to Algonkin since I have been here ; but I should have 
been very glad at that time to know as much Iroquois as Al- 
gonkin. The only person I could find who could serve me for 
this purpose was a Dutchman. He knows Iroquois perfectly, 
but French very little. At length, unable to find any other, I 
embarked. M. Dollier and I intended to call at Kente to 
obtain intelligence of our gentlemen who are on mission 
there,^ but our guides were of the great village of Seneca, 
and we dared not leave them lest we should be unable to find 
any others. 

With the outfit I have mentioned, we left Montreal on the 
6th of July, 1669, and the same day ascended the St. Louis 
Rapids, which are only a league and a half away. Navigation 
above Montreal is quite different from that below. The 
latter is made in ships, barks, launches, and boats, because the 

^The country of the Outagami and Mascoutin (Iskousogos) before their 
migration to Wisconsin was not far from the western end of Lake Erie. 

2 A Sulpician mission had been begun in 1668 on the north shore of Lake 
Ontario at the present Bay of Quinte (Kente) not far from the modern Kings- 
ton. The two missionaries were Claude Trouve and Franfois, Abbe de Fenelon. 
This mission was maintained until 1673. 



172 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

River St. Lawrence is very deep, as far up as Montreal, a 
distance of 200 leagues; but immediately above Montreal 
one is confronted with a rapid or waterfall amidst numerous 
large rocks, that will not allow a boat to go through, so that 
canoes only can be used. These are little birch-bark canoes, 
about twenty feet long and two feet wide, strengthened in- 
side with cedar floors and gunwales, very thin, so that one 
man carries it with ease, although the boat is capable of carry- 
ing four men and eight or nine hundred pounds' weight of bag- 
gage. There are some made that carry as many as ten or 
twelve men with their outfit, but it requires two or three men 
to carry them. 

This style of canoes affords the most convenient and the 
commonest mode of navigation in this country, although it is 
a true saying that when a person is in one of these vessels he 
is always, not a finger's breadth, but the thickness of five or 
six sheets of paper, from death. These canoes cost Frenchmen 
who buy them from Indians nine or ten crowns in clothes, 
but from Frenchmen to Frenchmen they are much dearer. 
Mine cost me eighty livres. It is only the Algonkin-speaking 
tribes that build these canoes well. The Iroquois use all 
kinds of bark except birch for their canoes. They build canoes 
that are badly made and very heavy, which last at most only 
a month, whilst those of the Algonkins, if taken care of, last 
five or six years. 

You do not row in these canoes as in a boat. In the latter 
the oar is attached to a rowlock on the boat's side ; but here 
you hold one hand near the blade of the oar and the other at 
the end of the handle, and use it to push the water behind 
you, without the oar touching the canoe in any way. Moreover, 
it is necessary in these canoes to remain all the time on your 
knees or seated, taking care to preserve your balance well; 
for the vessels are so light that a weight of twenty pounds on 
one side more than the other is enough to overturn them, and 
so quickly that one scarcely has time to guard against it. 
They are so frail that to bear a little upon a stone or to touch 
it a little clumsily is sufficient to cause a hole, which can, 
however, be mended with resin. 

The convenience of these canoes is great in these streams, 
full of cataracts or waterfalls, and rapids through which it is 



1669] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALINIEE 173 

impossible to take any boat. When you reach them you load 
canoe and baggage upon your shoulders and go overland until 
the navigation is good ; and then you put your canoe back into 
the water, and embark again. If God grants me the grace of 
returning to France, I shall endeavor to take over one of these 
canoes, to show it to those who have not seen them. I see 
no handiwork of the Indians that appears to me to merit 
the attention of Europeans, except their canoes and their 
rackets for walking on snow. There is no conveyance either 
better or swifter than that of the canoe ; for four good canoe- 
men will not be afraid to bet that they can pass in their canoe 
eight or ten rowers in the fastest launch that can be seen. 

I have made a long digression here upon canoes because, as 
I have already said, I have found nothing here more beauti- 
ful or more convenient. Without them it would be impossible 
to navigate above Montreal or in any of the numerous rivers 
of this country. I know none of these without some water- 
fall or rapid, in which one would inevitably get wrecked if he 
wished to run them. 

The inns or shelters for the night are as extraordinary as 
the vehicles, for after paddling or portaging the entire day you 
find towards evening the fair earth all ready to receive your 
tired body. When the weather is fine, after unloading your 
canoe, you make a fire and go to bed without otherwise hous- 
ing yourself ; but when it is wet, it is necessary to go and strip 
some trees, the bark of which you arrange upon four small 
forks, with which you make a cabin to save you from the rain. 
The Algonkins carry with them pieces of birch-bark, split 
thin and sewed together so that they are four fathoms in 
length and three feet wide. These roll up into very small 
compass, and under three of these pieces of bark hung upon 
poles eight or nine men can be easily sheltered. Even winter 
cabins are made with them that are warmer than our houses. 
Twenty or thirty poles are arranged lengthwise so that they 
all touch each other at the top, and the bark is spread over 
the poles, with a little fire in the centre. Under these strips 
of bark I have passed days and nights where it was veiy cold, 
with three feet of snow upon the ground, without being ex- 
traordinarily inconvenienced 

As to the matter of food, it is such as to cause all the 



174 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

books to be burned that cooks have ever made, and themselves 
to be forced to renounce their art. For one manages in the 
woods of Canada to fare well without bread, wine, salt, pep- 
per, or any condiments. The ordinary diet is Indian com, 
called in France Turkey wheat, which is ground between two 
stones and boiled in water; the seasoning is with meat or 
fish, when you have any. This way of living seemed to us all 
so extraordinary that we felt the effects of it. Not one of us 
was exempt from some illness before we were a hundred leagues 
from Montreal. 

We took the Lake Ontario route, our guides conducting us 
along the River St. Lawrence. The route is very difficult as 
far as Otondiata,^ about forty leagues from here, for it is 
necessary to be almost always in the water dragging the canoes. 
Up to that place there are only thirteen or fourteen leagues of 
good sailing, in Lake St. Francis and Lake St. Louis. The 
river banks are of fairly good land here and there, but com- 
monly it is mere sand or rocks. It is true the fishing is pretty 
good in all these rapids, for most frequently we had only to 
throw the line into the water to catch forty or fifty fish of the 
kind called here barbue (catfish). There is none like it in 
France. Travellers and poor people live on it very comfort- 
ably, for it can be eaten, and is very good cooked in water 
without any sauce. It is also full of a very good oil, which 
forms admirable seasoning for sagamite, the name given to 
porridge made of Indian com. 

We took two moose in Lake St. Francis, which were the 
beginning of our hunting. We fared sumptuously on them. 
These moose are large animals, like mules and shaped nearly 
like them, except that the moose has a cloven hoof, and on 
his head very large antlers wliich he sheds every winter, and 
which are flat like those of the fallow deer. Their flesh is 
very good, especially when fat, and the hide is very valuable. 
It is what is commonly called here the orignal. The hot 
weather and our scanty experience of living in the woods 
made us lose a 'good part of our meat. 

The mode of curing it in the woods, where there is no salt, 
is to cut it in very thin slices and spread it on a gridiron raised 

1 Otondiata was Grenadier Island, not far from Oswegatchie River, at 
whose mouth now stands Ogdensburgh, New York. 



1669] 



JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALIN^E 175 



three feet from the ground, covered with small wooden switches 
on which you spread your meat. Then a fire is made under- 
neath the gridiron, and the meat is dried in the fire and smoke 
until there is no longer any moisture in it and it is as dry as a 
piece of wood.^ It is put up in packages of thirty or forty, 
rolled up in pieces of bark, and thus wrapped up it will keep 
five or six years without spoiling. When you wish to eat it 
3^ou reduce it to powder between two stones and make a broth 
by boiling with Indian corn. The loss of our meat resulted 
in our having nothing to eat but Indian corn with water for 
nearly a month, for generally we were not in fishing spots, 
and we were not in the season of good hunting. 

At last, with aU our misery, we discovered Lake Ontario 
on the second day of August, wliich comes in sight like a great 
sea, with no land visible but what you coast along. What 
seems land on the lake-shore is merely sand and rocks. It 
is true that in the depth of the woods fine land is remarked, 
especially along some streams that empty into the lake. It 
is by this route that the reverend Jesuit Fathers go to their 
Iroquois missions, and on the river of Onondaga that they 
intend to make their principal establishment.^ They have 
eight or ten men there now for the purpose of building a 
house and making clearings to sow grain. Before this year 
there were only one Father and one man for each nation, but 
this year they have sent a considerable shipment of men and 
merchants to begin a permanent establishment to which the 
missionaries may retire from time to time to renew their 
spuitual and bodily strength, for, to tell the truth, the life 
of missionaries in this country is the most dissipating life 
that can be imagined. Scarcely anything is thought of but 
bodily necessities, and the constant example of the savages, 
who think only of satisfying their flesh, briags the mind into 
an almost inevitable enervation, unless one guards against it. 

There are rivers flowing into Lake Ontario that lead into 

'This method of preparing meat is called by frontiersmen "jerking," 
and the dried product is known as "jerk." 

2 This settlement, called Ste. Marie, was on the eastern side of Onondaga 
Lake, between Syracuse and Liverpool, New York. The mission to the Onon- 
daga, begun by Jogues in 1646, was re-established nine years later and named 
Mission of St. Jean Baptiste. 



176 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

the forests of the Five Iroquois Nations, as you will see them 
marked on the map. On the 8th of August we arrived at an 
island where a Seneca Indian has made a sort of coimtry 
house, to which he retires in summer to eat with his family a 
little Indian corn and squash that he grows there every year. 
He has concealed himself so well, that unless one knew the 
spot one would have a great deal of difficulty in finding it. 
They are obliged to conceal themselves in this way when they 
leave their villages, lest their enemies, who are always around 
for the purpose of suiprising and killing them, should discover 
them. 

The good man received us well and entertained us hospi- 
tably with squashes boiled in water. Our guide would stay 
two days with him, after which, leaving us to go to notify 
the village of our arrival, we were not in entire security for 
our lives in the vicinity of this tribe, and many reasons gave 
us ground for apprehending something disagreeable. 

In the first place, the peace had been made very shortly 
before, and these barbarians had often broken it with us when 
it seemed still more assured than this one, and all the more 
easily, as there are no authorities amongst them, everj-one 
being perfectly free in his actions, so that all that is necessary 
is for a young ruffian, to whom the peace is not acceptable, 
or who remembers that one of his relations was killed in the 
preceding wars, to come and commit some act of hostility, and 
so break the treaty that has been made by the old men. 

Secondly, the Antastogue or Antastouais, who are the 
Indians of New Sweden,^ that are at war with the Senecas, 
are continually rovmg about in the outskirts of their country, 
and had shortly before killed ten men in the very spot where 
we were obliged to sojourn an entire month. 

Thirdly, a week or a fortnight before our departure from 
Montreal, three of the soldiers in garrison there, having gone 
to trade, found a Seneca Indian who had a quantity of furs, 
to get which they made up their minds to murder the Indian, 
and in fact did so. Happily for us the matter was discovered 

1 The Andastes were of Iroquoian stock, occupying the valley of the Susque- 
hanna River. The English called them Susquehannocks, Minquas, or Cones- 
toga Indians. See A. C. Myers, Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New 
Jersey, and Delaware (Original Narratives Series), pp. 103, 104. 



1669] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALIN^E 177 

five or six days before our departure, and the criminals, being 
convicted, were put to death in presence of several Seneca 
Indians that were here at the time, and who were appeased at 
the sight of this justice; for they had resolved, in order to 
avenge the deceased, who was a man of importance, to kill 
just as many Frenchmen as they could catch away from the 
settlements. Judge for yourselves whether it would have had 
a good result for us in this country if we had left Montreal 
before those criminals had been executed. But nevertheless, 
although the bulk of the nation was appeased by this execu- 
tion, the relatives of the deceased did not consider themselves 
satisfied, and wished at all hazards to sacrifice some French- 
men to their vengeance, and loudly boasted of it. On this 
account we performed sentry duty every night, and con- 
stantly kept all our weapons in good condition. 

However, I can assure you, that for a person who sees 
himseK in the midst of all these alarms and who must, more- 
over, add the constant fear of dying of hunger or disease in 
the midst of a forest, without any help — in the midst, I say, 
of all these alarms, when one believes he is here by the will of 
God, and in the thought that what one suffers is agreeable to 
Him and will be able to serve for the salvation of some one of 
these poor Indians, not only is one free from sadness, but, on 
the contrary, one tastes a very appreciable joy in the midst 
of all these hardships. 

This is what we experienced many times, but especially 
M. DoUier, who was sick near Seneca with a continued fever, 
that almost carried him off in a short time. He said to me at 
the time, "I am well pleased, and even rejoice, to see myself 
destitute as I am of all spiritual and corporal aid." "Yes," 
said he, "I would rather die in the midst of this forest in the 
order of the will of God, as I believe I am, than amongst all 
my brethren in the Seminary of Saint Sulpice." 

At length, after thirty-five days of very difficult naviga- 
tion, we arrived at a small stream, called by the Indians 
Karontagouat,^ which is at the part of the lake nearest to 
Seneca, about one hundred leagues southwestward from Mon- 
treal. I took the altitude at this place with the Jacob 's-staff 
that I had brought, on the 26th August, 1669, and as I had a 

^ The present Irondequoit River of central New York. 



178 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

very fine horizon to the north, for no more land is seen there 
than in the open sea, I took the altitude from behind, which 
is the most accurate. I found the sun then distant from the 
zenith 33 degrees, to which I added 10 degrees 12 minutes, 
being the sun's north declination for that day. The equinoc- 
tial was distant from the zenith, and consequently the north 
pole elevated above the horizon, at this place, 43 degrees 12 
minutes, which is its actual latitude, and agreed pretty well 
with the latitude I found I had obtained by dead reckoning, 
follomng the practice of sailors, who do not fail to get the 
latitude they are in although they have no instrument for 
taking altitude.^ 

No sooner had we arrived at this place than we were 
visited by a number of Indians who came to make us small 
presents of Indian corn, squashes, blackberries, and blue- 
berries, fraits that they have in abundance. We returned the 
compliment by making them also a present of knives, awls, 
needles, glass beads, and other things which they esteemed 
and with which we were well provided. 

Our guides requested us to wait at this place until the 
next day, and informed us that the principal persons would 
not fail to come in the evening with provisions to escort us 
to the village. And, in fact, the evening was no sooner come 
than we saw a large band of Indians arriving with a number 
of women loaded with pro\dsions, who came and camped 
near us and made bread for us of Indian corn and fruits. 
They would not speak there in form of council, but told us 
we were expected at the village, and that word had been sent 
through all the cabins to assemble all the old men for the 
council, which was to be held to learn the reason of our coming. 

Thereupon M. DolHer, M. de la Salle, and I consulted to- 
gether to know in what manner we should act, what should be 
offered as presents, and how many should be made. It was 
resolved that I should go to the village with M. de la Salle 
to try to get a slave of the tribes to which we wished to go for 
the purpose of conducting us thither, and that we should take 
eight of our Frenchmen with us. The rest were to remain 

1 This observation was very accurate, being about the true latitude of the 
entrance to Irondequoit River. The Jacob's-staff, or cross-staff, was a rude prede- 
cessor of the quadrant. 



1669] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALIN^E 179 

with M. DoUier in charge of the canoes. The business was 
carried out in this way, and no sooner had dayhght appeared, 
on the next day, the 12th August, than we were notified by the 
Indians that it was time to start. We set out accordingly, 
ten Frenchmen with 40 or 50 Indians, who obhged us every 
league to take a rest for fear of tiring us too much. About 
half way, we found another band of Indians coming to meet us 
who made us a present of provisions and joined us in order 
to return to the village. When we were about a league away 
the halts were more frequent and the crowd kept adding to 
our escort more and more untU at last we saw ourselves in 
sight of the great village, which is in the midst of a large clear- 
ing about two leagues in circumference.^ 

In order to reach it, it is necessary to ascend a small hill, 
on the brow of which the village is situated. As soon as we 
had climbed this hill, we perceived a large number of old men 
seated on the grass waiting for us, who had left a good place 
for us opposite them, where they invited us to sit down, 
which we did. At the same time an old man, who could scarcely 
see and hardly hold himself up, so old was he, rose and in 
a very animated tone made us an oration, ia which he as- 
sured us of his joy at our arrival, that we might regard the 
Senecas as our brothers and they regarded us as theirs, and 
that, feeling thus, they requested us to enter their village, 
where they had prepared a cabin for us whilst waiting until 
we should broach our purpose. We thanked them for their 
civilities and informed them through our interpreter that on 
the foUowing day we should tell them the object of our journey. 

Thereupon an Indian, who had the office of introducer of 
ambassadors, presented himself to conduct us to our lodging. 
We followed him, and he took us to the largest cabin of the 
village, where they had prepared our abode, with orders to 
the women of the cabin to let us lack for nothing. And in 
truth they were always very faithful whilst we were there to 
attend to our kettles, and bring us the necessary wood to light 
up during the night. 

This village, like all those of the Indians, is nothing but a 
lot of cabins, surrounded with palisades of poles twelve or 

1 Thir was the Seneca village on the site of Boughton Hill, about one mile 
south of Victor in Ontario County, New York. 



ISO EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

thirteen feet high, fastened together at the top and planted 
in the ground, with great piles of wood the height of a man 
behind these palisades, the curtains being not otherwise flanked, 
merely a simple enclosure, perfectly square, so that these 
forts are not defensible. Besides, they scarcely ever take care 
to settle on the bank of a stream or spring, but on some hill, 
where, as a general rule, they are some distance from water. 
By the evening of the 12th, we saw all the principal persons 
of the other villages arriving to attend the council, which was 
to be held next day. 

The Seneca nation is the most numerous of all the Iroquois. 
It is composed of four villages, two of which contain one 
hundred and fifty cabins each, and the other two about thirty 
cabins, in all, perhaps, a thousand or twelve hundred men 
capable of bearing arms. The two large villages are about 
six or seven leagues apart, and both are six or seven leagues 
from the lake shore. 

The country between the lake and the large village,^ 
farthest to the east, to which I was going, is for the most part 
beautiful, broad meadows, on which the grass is as tall as my- 
self. In the spots where there are woods, these are oak plains, 
so open that one could easily run through them on horseback. 
This open country, we were told, continues eastward more 
than a hundred leagues. Westward and southward it extends 
so far that its limit is unknown, especially towards the south, 
where treeless meadows are found more than one hundred 
leagues in length, and where the Indians who have been there 
say very good fruits and extremely fine Indian com are grown. 

At last, the 13th of August having arrived, the Indians as- 
sembled in our cabin to the number of fifty or sixty of the 
principal persons of the nation. Their custom is, when they 
come in, to sit down in the most convenient place they find 
vacant, regardless of rank, and at once get some fire to Hght 
their pipes, which do not leave their mouths during the whole 
time of the council. They say good thoughts come whilst 
smoking. 

When we saw the assembly was numerous enough, we began 
to talk business, and it was then M. de la Salle admitted he was 
unable to make himself understood. On the other hand, my 

^ On the site of the present city of Geneva, New York. 



1669] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALINl^E 181 

interpreter said he did not know enough French to make him- 
self thoroughly understood by us. So we deemed it more con- 
venient to make use of Father Fremin's man to deliver our 
address and interpret to us what the Indians should say; 
and it was actually done in this way. It is to be remarked 
that Father Fremin ^ was not then at the place of his mission, 
but had gone a few days before to Onondaga for a meeting 
that was to be held there of all the Jesuits scattered among the 
five Iroquois nations. At that time there was no one but 
Father Fremin's man, who served as our interpreter. 

Our first present was a double-barrelled pistol worth sixty 
livres, and the word we joined to the present was that we re- 
garded them as our brothers, and in this character were so 
strong in their interest that we made them a present of this 
double-barrelled pistol, so that with one shot they could kill 
the Loups,^ and with the other the Andostoues, two tribes 
against whom they wage a cruel war. 

The second present consisted of six kettles, six hatchets, 
four dozen knives, and five or six pounds of large glass beads, 
and the word was that we came on the part of Onontio (so they 
call the Governor) to confirm the peace. 

Lastly, the third present was two capotes, four kettles, six 
hatchets, and some glass beads; and the word was that we 
came on the part of Onontio to see the tribes called by them 
the Touguenha,^ Hving on the River Ohio, and we asked of 
them a slave from that country to conduct us thither. They 
decided that our proposition should be considered. So they 
waited until nexi, day before answering us. These tribes have 
this custom, that they do not speak of any business without 
making some present, as if to serve as a reminder of the speech 
they deliver. 

Early next morning they all proceeded to our cabin, and the 

^Father Jacques Fremin (1628-1691) entered the Jesuit order in 1646; 
coming to Canada about nine years later he became in 1669 superior of the 
Jesuit missions to the Iroquois. In later life he served at the mission colonies 
on the St. Lawrence, dying at Quebec. He was the author of several of the 
Jesuit Relations. 

^ The Delaware Indians, called the Loups (Wolves) by the French. Their 
habitat was along the river of their name. 

* This was an Iroquois word for the Shawnee tribe. See another form of 
the word, p. 170, note 2, ante. 



182 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

head chief amongst them presented a wampum belt, to assure 
us we were welcome amongst our brothers. The second pres- 
ent was a second wampum belt, to tell us they were firmly 
resolved to keep the peace with the French and their nation 
had never made war on the French ; they would not begin it 
in a time of peace. For the third present they told us they 
would give us a slave, as we asked for one, but begged us to 
wait until their people came back from the trade with the 
Dutch, to which they had taken all their slaves, and then they 
would give us one without fail. We asked them not to keep us 
waiting more than a week, because the season was getting late, 
and they promised us. Thereupon everybody went off hom.e. 

Meanwhile they treated us in the best way they could, and 
everyone vied with his neighbor in feasting us after the fash- 
ion of the country. I must confess that several times I had 
more desire to give back what I had in my stomach than to 
put anything new into it. The great dish in this village, where 
they seldom have fresh meat, is a dog, the hair of which they 
singe over coals. After scraping it well, they cut it in pieces 
and put it into the kettle. When it is cooked, they serve you 
a piece of three or four pounds' weight in a wooden platter 
that has never been rubbed with any other dishcloth than the 
fingers of the lady of the house, which appear all smeared with 
the grease that is always in their platter to the thickness of a 
silver crown. Another of their greatest dishes is Indian meal 
cooked in water and then served in a wooden bowl with two 
fingers of bear's grease or oil of sun-flowers or of butternuts 
upon it. There was not a child in the village but was eager to 
bring us now stalks of Indian corn, at another time squashes, 
or it might be other small fruits that they go and gather in the 
woods. 

We passed the time in this way for seven or eight da5^s, 
waiting until some slave should return from the trading to be 
given to us. During the interval, to while away the time, I 
went with M. de la Salle under the guidance of two Indians, 
about four leagues south of the village we were in, to see an 
extraordinary spring.^ It forms a small brook as it issues 

1 This spring, which yields sulphuretted hydrogen gas, is situated in Bris- 
tol township of Ontario County, about half-way between Honeoye and Canan- 
daigua. 



1669] 



JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALINISE 183 



from a rather high rock. The water is very clear, but has a 
bad odor, hke that of Paris mud, when the mud at the bottom 
of the water is stirred with the foot. He put a torch in it, and 
immediately the water took fire as brandy does, and it does not 
go out until rain comes. This flame is, amongst the Indians, a 
sign of abundance, or of scarcity when it has the opposite 
qualities. There is no appearance of sulphur or saltpetre, or 
any other combustible matter. The water has no taste even ; 
and I cannot say or think anything better than that this water 
passes through some aluminous earth, from which it derives 
this combustible quality. 

During that time, also, brandy was brought to the village 
from the Dutch, on which several Indians got drunk. Several 
times relations of the man who had been kiUed at Montreal a 
few days before we left, threatened us in their drunkenness 
that they would break our heads. It is a somewhat common 
custom amongst them when they have enemies, to get drunk 
and afterwards go and break their heads or stab them to death, 
so as to be able to say afterward that they conciinitted the wicked 
act when they were not in their senses. It is actually their 
custom not to mourn for those who have died in this manner, 
for fear of causing pain to the living by reminding him of his 
crime. However, we always kept so weU on our guard that no 
accident happened to us. 

Lastly, it was during that time that I saw the saddest 
spectacle I ever saw in my life. I was told one evening that 
some warriors had arrived, that they had brought in a prisoner, 
and he had been put in a cabin not far from our own. I went 
to see him, and found him seated with three women, who were 
striving to outdo each other in bewailing the death of their 
kinsman, who had been killed on the occasion on which this 
man had been made prisoner. 

He was a young fellow of eighteen or twenty yeai-s, very 
well formed. They had dressed him from head to foot since 
his arrival, and had done him no harm since his capture. They 
had not even given him the salutation of blows with sticks, 
which it is their custom to give their prisoners on entering the 
village. So I thought I should have time to ask for him in 
order that he might be our guide ; for it was said he was one 
of the Touguenhas. I went accordingly to M. de la Salle for 



184 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

that purpose, who told me the Senecas were men of their 
word ; as they had promised us a slave they would give us one, 
and it mattered little to us whether it was this man or another, 
and it was best not to press them. I gave myself no further 
trouble accordingly. Night came on and we went to bed. The 
Hght of next day had no sooner appeared than a large company 
entered our cabin, to tell us the prisoner was to be burned, and 
had asked to see some of the Mistigouch. I ran to the public 
square to see him, and foimd him already on the scaffold, 
where they were fastening him, hand and foot, to a stake. I 
was astonished to hear from him some Algonkin words, which I 
recognized, although from his manner of pronouncing them they 
seemed somewhat hard to make out. At last he made me un- 
derstand that he would be glad if his execution were put off till 
the next day. If he had spoken good Algonkin I should have 
understood him, but his language differed from Algonkin even 
more than that of the Ottawas. So I understood him but 
very Httle. 

I sent word to the Iroquois by our Dutch interpreter, but 
he told me the prisoner had been given to an old woman in 
place of her son, who had been killed : that she could not bear 
to see him live, and all her relations were so much concerned 
in her grief that they could not delay his execution. The irons 
were in the fire to torture the poor wretch. As for myself, I 
told my interpreter to ask for him as the slave that had been 
promised, and I would make a present to the old woman to 
whom he belonged; but our interpreter never would make 
this proposition, sajdng it was not the custom amongst them, 
and the matter was too important. I went so far as to threaten 
him in order to make him say what I wished, but could effect 
nothing, because he was obstinate like a Dutchman, and ran 
away from me. 

I remained alone accordingly near the poor sufferer, who 
saw before him the instruments of his execution. I endeavored 
to make him understand that he must no longer have recourse 
to anyone but God, and should offer Him this prayer, "Thou 
who madest all, have pity on me ; I am sorry I have not obeyed 
Thee ; but if I live I will obey Thee entu-ely." He understood 
me better than I understood him, because all the tribes border- 
ing on the Ottawas understand Algonkin. I did not think I 



1669] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALINEE 185 

could baptize him, not only because I did not understand him 
sufficiently to know his frame of mind, but also because the 
Iroquois were urging me to leave him, in order to begin their 
tragedy; and, moreover, I believed that the act of contrition 
which I was persuading him to make might save him. Certainly, 
if I had foreseen this accident the evening before, I would have 
baptized him, because I should have had time to instruct him 
during the night ; but I could do nothing at the time but en- 
courage him to suffer patiently, and to offer to God his torments, 
saying often to him, "Thou who madest all, have pity on me," 
which he repeated, with his eyes raised to heaven. 

At the same time I saw the principal relative of the de- 
ceased approach with a gun-barrel red-hot up to the middle. 
This obliged me to withdraw. The others began to find fault 
with me for encouraging him, the more so because amongst 
them it is a bad omen for a prisoner to endure torture patiently. 
I retired therefore with grief, and scarcely had I turned my 
head when this barbarian of an Iroquois applied his red-hot 
gun-barrel to the top of his feet, which made the poor wretch 
utter a loud cry, and forced me to turn towards him. I saw 
that Iroquois with a grave and steady hand applying the iron 
slowly along his feet and legs, and other old men smoking 
round the scaffold, with all the young people leaping for joy 
to see the contortions that the violence of the fire compelled 
the poor sufferer to make. 

Meanwhile I retired to the cabin in which we lodged, filled 
with grief at not being able to save this poor slave, and it was 
then I recognized more than ever how important it was not to 
engage one's self amongst the tribes of these countries with- 
out knowing their language or being sure of one's interpreter ; 
and I may say that the lack of an interpreter under our own 
control prevented the entire success of our expedition. 

I was in our cabin praying to God and very sorrowful. M. 
de la Salle came to tell me he feared, in the tumult he saw the 
whole village was in, there was reason to apprehend some in- 
sult might be offered to us ; there were many persons getting 
drunk that day, and finally he was resolved to get away to the 
place where the canoes and the rest of our people were. I told 
him I was ready to follow him, and that remaining with him I 
had difficulty in getting that pitiful spectacle out of my mind. 



186 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

We told seven or eight of our men who were with us at the time 
to withdraw for that day to a httle village haK a league from 
the large one in which we were, for fear of some insult, and M. 
de la Salle and I came away and found M. DoUier six good 
leagues from the village. 

There were some of our men barbarous enough to wish to 
see the torture of the poor Toaguenha from beginning to end. 
They reported next day that he had been burned with hot 
irons over his whole body for the space of sLx hom-s, until there 
was not a single spot on him that was not roasted. After that 
they had required him to run six courses through the square 
where the Iroquois awaited him armed with large flaming 
brands, with which they kept urging him on and knocking him 
down when he would come near them. Many took kettles 
full of coals and hot cinders, with which they covered him the 
instant that, by reason of his exhaustion and weakness, he 
wished to rest for a single moment. At last, after two hours 
of this barbarous amusement, they killed him "v^ith a stone, 
and afterwards, everyone throwing himself upon him, tore him 
to pieces. One carried off his head, another an arm, a third 
some other limb, and everyone hurried away to put it in the 
kettle to feast on it. Several presented portions of his flesh 
to the French, telling them there was no better eating in the 
world; but no one would try the experiment. Towards eve- 
ning everybody assembled in the square, each with a small stick 
in his hand, with which they began to beat the cabins on all 
sides with a very great clatter, to drive away, as they said, the 
dead man's soul, which might have hidden itself in some cor- 
ner to do them harm. 

We returned to the village some time afterw^ard to collect 
amongst the cabins the supply of Indian corn that we needed 
for our expedition, which the women of the village brought to 
us, each according to her means. We had to carry it on our 
necks six good leagues, the distance from the village to the place 
where we were encamped. 

During our sojourn at the village we had made careful en- 
quiry as to the road we must take to reach the River Ohio, and 
everybody had told us that in order to get to it from Seneca, 
it was six days' journey by land of about twelve leagues each. 
This made us think it was not possible for us to get to it that 



1669] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALINl^E 187 

way, as we could hardly carry anything for so long a journey 
but the mere necessaries of life — carrying our baggage being 
out of the question. But at the same time we were told that 
in going to Lake Erie by canoe we should have only three days' 
portage to get to that river/ much nearer the tribes we were 
seeking than we should find it going by Seneca. 

But what prevented us more than all was that the Indians 
told our Dutch interpreter he had no sense to wish to go to 
the Toaguenha, who were an extremely wicked people, that 
would endeavor to discover our fire in the evening, and after- 
wards come in the night and kill us with their arrows, with 
which they would have us covered before we could perceive 
them ; that furthermore, we ran a great risk along the Ohio 
River of encountering the Antastoez, who would unquestion- 
ably break our heads ; that for this reason the Senecas were 
unwilling to come with us, for fear people might think they 
were the cause of the Frenchmen's death, and they had much 
difficulty in making up their minds to give us a guide, for fear 
Onontio should impute our death to them and afterward come 
to make war upon them in order to avenge it. 

This kind of talk was going on without our knowing any- 
thing about it, but I was quite astonished to see the ardor of 
my Dutchman abating, who kept dinning into my ears that 
the Indians, where we wished to go, were no good and would 
kill us without fail. When I told him there was nothing to 
fear as long as we kept proper sentry, he answered me that the 
sentry, being near the fire, would not be able to perceive 
those coming in the night under cover of the trees and under- 
brush. In short, by all his talk, he showed me he was fright- 
ened. In fact, he no longer prosecuted the business of the 
guide with as much ardor as before, and, moreover, the In- 
dians were given the cue. So they kept putting us off from 
day to day, saying that their people were slower in returning 
from trade than they expected. We suffered a great deal 
from this delay, because we were losing the favorable season 
for navigation, and could not hope to winter with any tribe 
if we delayed longer, a contingency that M. de la Salle regarded 

^ This was the route via Erie (formerly Presque Isle) and French Creek 
to the Allegheny River, which was sometimes called the Ohio, as being the head- 
waters of that stream. 



188 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

as certain death, because we were not certain of being able to 
subsist in the woods. However, thank God, we experienced 
the contrary. 

We were extricated from all these difficulties by the arrival 
of an Indian who came from the Dutch and camped at the 
place where we were. He was from a village of Iroquois of 
the Five Nations, collected at the end of Lake Ontario for the 
convenience of hunting roebuck and bear, which are plentiful 
at that place. This Indian assured us we should have no dif- 
ficulty in finding a guide; there were a number of slaves 
there from the nations to which we desired to go, and he 
would wiUingly take us there. We thought it well to adopt 
this course, both because we were always making headway 
and nearing the place we wished to go to, and because, the 
village consisting of only eighteen or twenty cabins, we per- 
suaded ourselves we should all the more easily become its 
masters and make them do through fear a part of what they 
would not be willing to do for friendship. 

In that hope, we quitted the Senecas. We discovered a 
river one-eighth of a league wide and extremely rapid, which 
is the outlet or communication from Lake Erie to Lake On- 
tario.^ The depth of this stream (for it is properly the River 
St. Lawrence) is prodigious at this spot ; for at the very shore 
there are fifteen or sixteen fathoms of water, which fact we 
proved by dropping our line. This outlet may be forty leagues 
in length, and contains, at a distance of ten or twelve leagues 
from its mouth in Lake Ontario, one of the finest cataracts 
or waterfalls in the world ; for all the Indians to whom I have 
spoken about it said the river fell in that place from a rock 
higher than the tallest pine trees ; that is, about two hundred 
feet. In fact, we heard it from where we were. But this fall 
gives such an impulse to the water that, although we were 
ten or twelve leagues away, the water is so rapid that one can 
with great difficulty row up against it. At a quarter of a 
league from the mouth, where we were, it begins to contract 
and to continue its channel between two steep and very high 
rocks, which makes me think it would be navigable with 
difficulty as far as the neighborhood of the falls. As to the 
part above the falls, the water draws from a considerable 

^ The River Niagara. 



1669] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALIN^E 189 

distance into that precipice, and very often stags and hinds, 
elks and roebucks, suffer themselves to be drawn along so 
far in crossing this river that they find themselves compelled 
to take the leap and to see themselves swallowed up in that 
horrible gulf. 

Our desire to go on to our little village called Ganastogue 
Sonontoua Outinaouatoua^ prevented our going to see that 
wonder, which I regarded as so much the greater, as the River 
St. Lawrence is one of the largest in the world. I leave you 
to imagine if it is not a beautiful cascade, to see all the water 
of this great river, which at its mouth is three leagues in width, 
precipitate itself from a height of two hundred feet with a 
roar that is heard not only from the place where we were, 
ten or twelve leagues distant, but actually from the other 
side of Lake Ontario, opposite this mouth, from which M. 
Trouve^ told me he had heard it. We passed this river, 
accordingly, and at last, after five days' voyage, arrived at 
the end of Lake Ontario, where there is a fine large sandy 
bay, at the bottom of which is the outlet of another little 
lake discharging itself. This our guides made us enter about 
half a league, and then rniload our canoes at the place nearest 
the village, which is, however, five or six good leagues away. 

It was at that place, whilst waiting for the principal per- 
sons of the village to come to us with some men to carry our 
baggage, that M. de la Salle, having gone hunting, brought 
back a high fever which pulled him down a great deal in a 
few days. Some say it was at the sight of three large rattle- 
snakes he foimd in his path whilst climbing a rock that the 
fever seized him. It is certainly, after all, a*very ugly sight ; 
for these animals are not timid like other serpents, but wait 
for a man, putting themselves at once in a posture of de- 
fence, coiling half the body from the tail to the middle as if 
it were a cable, holding the rest of the body quite erect, and 
darting sometimes as much as three or four paces, all the time 

1 This small village is thought to have been situated in the Beverly swamp, 
near the village of Westover, Ontario. It is usually spoken of as Tinawatawa, 
see 'post. 

^ Claude Trouve was one of the Sulpitian fathers who had charge of the 
mission on the Bay of Quinte, A native of Tours, he came to Canada in 1667, 
was five years at the Lake Ontario mission (1668-1673), later on the lower St. 
Lawrence. 



190 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

making a great noise with the rattle that they carry at the 
end of their tails. There are a great many of them at this 
place, as thick as one's arm, six or seven feet long, entirely 
black. The rattle that they carry at the end of the tail, and 
shake very rapidly, makes a noise like that which a number 
of melon or squash seeds would make, if shut up in a box. 

At last, after three days' waiting, the principal persons 
and almost everyone in the village came to find us. We held 
council in our camp, where my Dutchman succeeded better 
than we had done at the large village. We made two presents 
in order to obtain two slaves, and a third to get our packs 
carried to the village. The Indians made us two presents; 
the first of fourteen or fifteen dressed deer-sldns, to tell us they 
were going to take us to their village, but were only a hand- 
fiil of people, incapable of resisting us, and begged us to do 
them no harm and not to burn them as the French had burnt 
the Mohawks.^ We assured them of our good-will. They 
made us another present of about five thousand wampum 
beads, and, lastly, of two slaves for guides. One was from 
the nation of the Shawanons and the other from the Nez- 
Perces.2 I have thought since that he was from a nation 
near the Pottawattamies ; however, both were good hunters 
and showed that they were well disposed. The Shawanon 
fell to M. de la Salle and the other to us. They told us, be- 
sides, that on the following day they would help us to carry 
our baggage to their village, in order to go on from there to 
take us to the bank of a river, where we could embark for the 
purpose of entering Lake Erie. 

We were very much pleased with the inhabitants of this 
little village, who entertained us to the best of their ability. 
M. Dollier could not contain the joy that he had in seeing 
himself with so favorable a prospect of arriving soon amongst 
the tribes to whom he wished to consecrate the rest of his 
days, for he had resolved never to return if he could find any 
nation willing to receive him. We conversed with our guide, 

1 Reference is here made to the signal punishment for treachery that Tracy 
m 1666 inflicted upon the Mohawk tribesmen. 

2 Nez Perces was one of the names given to the Ottawa Indians, for whom 
see p. 36, note 1, ante. This tribe should not be confused with the Nez Percys 
of the Far West, who are of the Shahaptian family. 



1669] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALIN^E 191 

who assured us that in a month and a half of good travelling 
we should be able to reach the first nations on the River Ohio 
... in the woods, because there was no means of reaching 
any nation before the snows. We devoured, in spirit, all these 
difficulties, and made no account of anything, provided we 
could go where we thought we were called of God. 

We set out from this place with more than fifty Indians, 
male or female, about the 22nd of September, and our Indians, 
sparing us, obliged us to take two days in making our portage 
as far as the village, which was only, however, about five 
leagues away. We camped, accordingly, in the \dcinity of 
the village, where our Indians went himting and killed a roe- 
buck, and it was in that place that we learned there had arrived 
two Frenchmen at the village we were going to, who were on 
their way from the Ottawas and were taking back an Iroquois 
prisoner belonging to the latter. 

This news surprised us, because we did not think there 
was any Frenchman out on service in that direction. How- 
ever, two of the most influential persons left us to go to re- 
ceive these new guests, and we pursued our journey next day 
with the fatigue you may imagine ; sometimes in the water up 
to mid-leg, besides the inconvenience of the packs, which get 
caught in the branches of trees and make you recoil three or 
four paces. But, after all, one is hardly sensible of those 
fatigues when he thinks that by them he is pleasing God and 
able to render Him service. 

At last we arrived at Tinawatawa on the 24th of Sep- 
tember, and found that the Frenchman who had arrived the 
day before was a man named Jolliet,^ who had left Montreal 
before us with a fleet of four canoes loaded with goods for the 
Ottawas, and had orders from the Governor to go up as far 
as Lake Superior to discover the situation of a copper mine, 
specimens from which are seen here that scarcely need refin- 
ing, so good and pure is the copper. After finding this mine 

^ Louis Jolliet was Canadian born, baptized at Quebec in September, 
1645. He had been a student at the Jesuit college until 1666, took minor orders 
and served as clerk of the church. In 1667, however, he abandoned an eccle- 
siastical career, paid a visit to France, and on his return made the voyage of 
exploration here described. His later career will appear in subsequent pages 
of this volume. 



192 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

he was to find out an easier route than the ordinary one to 
transport it to Montreal. M. JolHet had not been able to 
see this mine, because time pressed him for his return ; but 
having discovered amongst the Ottawas some Iroquois pris- 
oners that these tribes had taken, he told them that Onontio's 
intention was that they should live at peace with the Iroquois, 
and persuaded them to send one of their prisoners to the Iro- 
quois as a token of the peace they wished to have with them. 

It was this Iroquois who showed M. Jolliet a new route, 
heretofore unknown to the French, for returning from the 
Ottawas to the country of the Iroquois. However, the fear 
this Indian had of falling again into the hands of the Antastoes 
led him to tell M. Jolliet he must leave his canoe and walk 
overland sooner than would have been necessary. Indeed, 
but for this terror on the part of the Indian, M. Jolliet could 
have come by water as far as Lake Ontario, by making a port- 
age of half a league to avoid the great falls of which I have 
already spoken. In the end he was obliged by his guide to 
make fifty leagues by land and to abandon his canoe on the 
shore of Lake Erie. 

Meanwhile M. de la Salle's illness was beginning to take 
away from him the inclination to push further on, and the 
desire to see Montreal was beginning to press him. He had 
not spoken of it to us, but we had clearly perceived it. More- 
over, the route M. Jolliet had taken, with the news he brought 
us — that he had sent some of his party in search of a very 
numerous nation of Ottawas called the Pottawattamies, 
amongst whom there never had been any missionaries, and 
that this tribe bordered on the Iskoutegas and the great 
river that led to the Shawanons— induced M. Dollier and me 
to wish to go and search for the river into which we wished 
to enter by way of the Ottawas rather than by that of the 
Iroquois, because the route seemed to us much easier and we 
both knew the Ottawa language. 

Another accident confirmed us in this thought, which 
was, that after we had equipped the Indian, who was to serve 
as our guide, with a capote, a blanket, kettle, and knife, 
there arrived an Indian from the Dutch, who brought brandy, 
of which these people are very fond, and our guide took a 
strong desire to drink of it. Not having the wherewithal to 



1669] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALINEE 193 

trade, he gave his capote in order to obtain six mouthfuls of 
it from a keg with a reed, and then threw it up into a wooden 
platter. 

I was informed of this affair, which did not please me, 
because our guide, having traded his capote, would certainly 
ask us for another to get through the winter, and we had no 
more left. So I thought, that in order to make sure of our 
guide, it was necessary to put a stop to this business. I went 
to the cabin where the bar was kept, and there actually found 
our trader, from whose hands I took away the capote which 
he had already virtually pledged, causing him to be informed 
that I would return it to him when he was no longer drunk. 
The man was so angry at this affair that he went and hunted 
up all we had given him and handed it back to us; but he 
had no sooner left us than a Shawanon presented himself to 
conduct us, whom we took at the word. However, as this 
act had been noised about, the principal persons assembled, 
and came to make us a present of two thousand wampum 
beads so that we might not remember what had passed. We 
promised, and they feasted us handsomely. 

If M. Dollier's mission had not been for the Ottawas, to 
the exclusion of the Iroquois, he would have stopped in this 
village, where he was indeed urged with all imaginable prot- 
estations to apply himself to prayers in good earnest. But 
we had to pass on, without being able to do them any good 
further than to confirm them in the good intentions they had, 
and we promised them that the black robes of Kente should 
come to see them next winter ; and in fact we wrote about it to 
M. de Fenelon,^ who was carrying on a successful mission 
at Kente, and M. Trouve did us the favor to fulfil the promise 
we had given them and to come there to announce the Word 
of God as early as the month of November following. M. 
JoUiet offered us a description he had made of his route from 
the Ottawas, which I accepted, and I reduced it at the time 
to a marine chart, which gave us a good deal of information 
as to our way, God having deprived us of our second guide in 
the manner I shall mention hereafter. 

1 Francois de Salignac, Abbe de Fenelon (1641-1679), came to Canada in 
1667 ; after his five years at the Quinte mission he taught an Indian school, but 
having displeased Frontenac was in 1674 sent back to France. 



194 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

At last M. de la Salle, seeing us determined to depart in 
two or three days, in order to proceed to the bank of the river 
that was to take us to Lake Erie, explained himself to us, and 
told us that the state of his health no longer permitted him to 
think of the journey he had undertaken along with us. He 
begged us to excuse him if he abandoned us to return to Mon- 
treal, and added that he could not make up his mind to winter 
in the woods with his men, where their lack of skill and ex- 
perience might make them die of starvation. 

The last day of September, M. DoUier said holy mass for 
the second time in this village, where most of us, as well on 
M. de la Salle's side as on ours, received the sacrament in 
order to unite in our Lord at a time when we saw ourselves 
on the point of separating. Hitherto we had never failed to 
hear holy mass three times a week, which M. Dollier said 
for us on a little altar prepared with paddles on forked sticks 
and surrounded with sails from our canoes. We took the 
greatest possible care not to be seen by the Indians, who 
would perhaps have made a mockery of our holy ceremony. 
So we have had the happiness and the honor of offering the 
holy sacrifice of the mass in more than two hundred places 
where it never had been offered. 

We had no trouble in persuading our men to follow us. 
There was not one at that time who desired to leave us ; and 
it may be said with truth that more joy was remarked in those 
who were going to expose themselves to a thousand perils 
than in those who were turning back to a place of safety, 
although the latter regarded us as people who were going to 
expose themselves to death; as indeed they announced as 
soon as they arrived here, and caused a great deal of pain to 
those who took some interest in our welfare. M. Jolliet was 
kind enough to inform me likewise of the place where his 
canoe was, because mine was now almost worthless, which 
made me resolve to endeavor to get it at the earliest possible 
moment, for fear Indians should carry it off from us. 

We set out then from Tinaouataoua on the 1st of October, 
1669, accompanied by a good number of Indians, who helped 
us to carry our canoes and baggage, and after making about 
nine or ten leagues in three days we arrived at the bank of 
the river which I call the Rapid, because of the violence of its 



1669] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALIN^E 195 

current, although it had not much water, for in many places 
we did not find enough to float our canoes, which did not draw 
a foot of water. ^ 

Holy mass was said on the fourth, St. Francis' Day, and 
that same day I asked all our men which of them would go 
by land as far as the place where the canoe was that had been 
given me, as it was impossible for twelve of us to embark in 
three canoes on a river where there is so little water as in this. 
My Dutchman offered himself, and said to me that he had 
thoroughly understood the route to go there and would find 
it without fail. As I knew none in our party more intelligent 
than he, I was glad he had proposed the thmg to me. I told 
him to take our Shawanon Indian and the one we had from 
Montreal, with provisions and ammunition, and go on and 
wait for us at the place where the canoe was, and we should 
soon join him. 

They left us that same day, the 3rd of October, and the 
rest of us set out on the 4th of the same month, two in each 
canoe, and the rest by land. It is marvellous how much dif- 
ficulty we had in descending this river, for we had to be in 
the water almost all the time dragging the canoe, which was 
unable to pass through for lack of water, so that although this 
river is not more than forty leagues in length, we took eight 
whole days to descend it. We had very good hunting there. 

At last we arrived, on the 13th or 14th, at the shore of 
Lake Erie, which appeared to us at first like a great sea, be- 
cause there was a great south wind blowing at the time. 
There is perhaps no lake in the whole country in which the 
waves rise so high, which happens because of its great depth 
and its great extent. Its length lies from east to west, and its 
north shore is in about 42 degrees of latitude. We proceeded 
three days along this lake, seeing land continually on the 
other side about four or five leagues away, which made us 
think that the lake was only of that width ; but we were im- 
deceived when we saw that this land, that we saw on the 
other side, was a peninsula separating the little bay in which 
we were from the great lake, whose limits cannot be seen 
when one is in the peninsula. I have shown it on the map I 
send you pretty nearly as I saw it. 

^ Grand River of Ontario. 



196 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1669 

At the end of three days, during which we made only 21 
or 22 leagues, we found a spot which appeared to us so beauti- 
ful, with such an abundance of game, that we thought we could 
not find a better in which to pass our winter. The moment 
we arrived we killed a stag and a hind, and again on the fol- 
lowing day two young stags. The good hunting quite deter- 
mined us to remain in this place. We looked for some favor- 
able spot to make a winter camp, and discovered a very 
pretty river, at the mouth of which we camped, until we 
should send word to our Dutchman of the place we had 
chosen.^ We sent accordingly two of our men to the place 
of the canoe, who returned at the end of a week, and told us 
they had found the canoe but seen neither the Dutchman 
nor the Indians. This news troubled us very much, not 
knowing what to decide. We thought we could not do better 
than wait in this place, which was very conspicuous, and 
which they must necessarily pass to go to find the canoe. 

We hunted meanwhile and killed a considerable number 
of stags, hinds, and roebucks, so that we began to have no 
longer any fear of leaving during the winter. We smoked the 
meat of nine large animals in such a manner, that it could 
have kept for two or three years, and with this provision 
we awaited the winter with tranquillity whilst hunting and 
making good provision of walnuts and chestnuts, which were 
there m great quantities. We had indeed in our granary 23 
or 24 minots^ of these fruits, besides apples, plums and grapes, 
and alizes^ of which we had an abundance during the autumn. 

I will tell you, by the way, that the vine grows here only 
in sand, on the banks of lakes and rivers, but although it has 
no cultivation it does not fail to produce grapes in great 
quantities as large and as sweet as the finest of France. We 
even made wine of them, with which M. DoUier said holy mass 
all winter, and it was as good as vin de Grave. It is a heavy, 
dark wine like the latter. Only red grapes are seen here, but 
in so great quantities, that we found places where one could 
easily have made 25 or 30 hogsheads of wine. 

1 The exact site was identified in 1900 by the Ontario Historical Society, 
on Patterson's Creek, near Port Dover, Ontario. 

2 The minot was equivalent to about a bushel and a quarter. 

3 Cranberries. 



1669] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALINEE 197 

I leave you to imagine whether we suffered in the midst 
of this abundance in the earthly Paradise of Canada; I call 
it so, because there is assuredly no more beautiful region in 
all Canada. The woods are open, interspersed with beauti- 
ful meadows, watered by rivers and rivulets filled with fish 
and beaver, an abundance of fruits, and what is more impor- 
tant, so full of game that we saw there at one time more than 
a hundred roebucks in a single band, herds of fifty or sixty 
hinds, and bears fatter and of better flavor than the most 
savory pigs of France. In short, we may say that we passed 
the winter more comfortably than we should have done in 
Montreal. 

We stayed a fortnight on the lake shore waiting for our 
men ; but seeing that we were at the beginning of November, 
we thought they had certainly missed the way, and so we 
could do nothing else than pray to God for them. We could 
not pass the winter on the lake shore because of the high winds 
by which we should have been buffeted. For this reason we 
chose a beautiful spot on the bank of a rivulet, about a quarter 
of a league in the woods, where we encamped. We erected a 
pretty altar at the end of our cabin, where we had the hap- 
piness to hear holy mass three times a week without missing, 
with the consolation you may imagine of finding ourselves 
with our good God, in the midst of the woods, in a land where 
no European had ever been. Monsieur DoUier often told 
us that that winter ought to be worth to us, as regards our 
eternal welfare, more than the best ten years of our life. We 
confessed often, received communion as well. In short, we 
had our parochial mass, holidays and Sundays, with the 
necessary instructions; prayer evening and morning, and 
every other Christian exercise. Orison was offered with tran- 
quillity in the midst of this solitude, where we saw no stranger 
for three months, at the end of which our men while hunting 
discovered a number of Iroquois coming to this place to 
hunt beaver. They used to visit us and found us in a very- 
good cabin whose construction they admired, and afterward 
they brought every Indian who passed that way to see it. 
For that reason, we had built it in such a fashion that we could 
have defended ourselves for a long time against these barbari- 
ans, if the desire had entered their minds to come to insult us. 



198 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1670 

The winter was very severe all over Canada in the year 
1669, especially in February, 1670. However, the deepest 
snow was not more than a foot, which began to cover the ground 
in the month of January, whilst at Montreal there is usually 
seen three feet and a half of it, which covers the groimd dur- 
ing four months of the year. I believe we should have died of 
cold, if we had been in a place where the weather was as severe 
as in Montreal. For it turned out that all the axes were 
worthless, and we broke almost all of them; so that, if the 
wood we were cutting had been frozen as hard as it is in Mon- 
treal, we should have had no axes from the month of January ; 
for the winter passed off with all possible mildness. 

However, we could not help longing for the season of 
navigation, so as to get to the Pottawattamies at an early 
date, and that I might be able to return this year to Montreal, 
in order to send back to M. Dollier the thuigs he would re- 
quire in his mission. 

On the 23rd of March, Passion Sunday, we all went to the 
lake shore to make and plant a cross in memory of so long a 
sojourn of Frenchmen as ours had been. We offered our 
prayers there, and seeing that where we were was almost 
clear of ice we resolved to set out on the 26th March, the day 
after Annunciation. 

But as the river by which we had gone to the place of our 
wintering was not so exposed either to the wind or sun as the 
lake, it was still entirely frozen, so that it was necessary to 
portage all our baggage and our canoes as far as the lake, 
where we embarked after living in that place five months and 
eleven days. 

We made six or seven leagues that day, and were met by 
so heavy a wind that we had to stop and wait two days, during 
which the wind continued so strong that, catching my canoe 
which my men had not taken care to fasten securely, it carried 
it out so far before we perceived it, that it was more than a 
good quarter of a league distant from the shore. Two men got 
into another canoe to go and rescue it, and actually reached 
it; but the violence of the wind came very near drowning 
them. Unable to manage their own canoe because of mine, 
which was playing at the sport of the wind and which they 
were unable to hold, they were obliged to cut the line with 



1670] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALIN^JIJ 199 

which they had attached it to their own, in order to save 
themselves. The wind was off land, therefore it did not ap- 
pear to me very strong, so I thought they were letting the 
canoe go because they were not strong enough to bring it. 
I embarked accordingly with two men in the canoe that re- 
mained to us. We were no sooner far enough out to be caught 
by the wind than we knew well there was no means of saving 
my canoe. So I was constrained to let it go where the wind 
was carrying it and to get myself back to shore. 

This accident caused us a great deal of trouble, for I 
had a large quantity of baggage. M. Dollier, who was going 
for the purpose of establishing himself, had his two canoes 
very heavily loaded. So there we were, consulting what we 
should do. At length we decided to withdraw one man from 
each of the remaining canoes and to put my baggage in their 
places. Thus, of nine men remaining, we went five by land 
and two in each canoe until we should reach the one that had 
been given me. 

We reckoned on only two days' walking to reach it, so 
we made up our minds to suffer hardship for one of them, for 
the land route was very bad, because of four rivers that had 
to be crossed and a number of great gulches that the water 
from the snows and rains had scooped out in many places on 
its way to the lake — to say nothing of the difficulty there 
always is in walking in these woods, because of the obstruc- 
tions caused by the trees that fall from time to time, either 
from age or being uprooted by the impetuosity of the winds. 
We set out accordingly, and decided it was necessary, in order 
to cross the rivers that we had to pass, to go a good distance 
into the woods, because the farther the rivers run into the 
woods the narrower they are, and, indeed, one usually finds 
trees, which, having fallen in every direction, form bridges 
over which one passes. 

We plunged then about four leagues into the woods, 
loaded with provisions, ammunition, and our blankets. We 
passed the first river easily by this method, but when we came 
to the second, far from stopping in the woods, it widened in 
the form of a marsh and flowed with great rapidity. There 
is no safety in crossing the rivers of this countiy by fording 
unless one knows them well, because there are a great many 



200 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1670 

quicksands, in which one sinks so far that it is impossible to 
get out. This river seems very deep, as in reality it is. When 
we reached its bank we held a council as to what we should' 
do, and in the first place resolved to go on for some time 
longer towards its mouth, in order to cross it on a raft. 

We slept that night on the bank of this river, about two 
leagues from its mouth, and it was at this place that we 
heard towards the east voices that seemed to us to be of men 
calling to each other. We ran to the river bank to see if it 
was not our men looking for us, and at the same time we heard 
the same voices on the south side. We turned our heads in 
that direction, but at last were undeceived, hearing them at 
the same time towards the west, which gave us to understand 
that it was the phenomenon cormnonly called the hunting of 
Arthur. I have never heard it, nor have any of those who were 
of our company, which was the reason we were deceived by it. 

Next day we arrived at the mouth of the river, which was 
very deep and rapid, and bordered on both sides by large 
submerged meadows.^ Notwithstanding the difficulty of 
the crossing, we resolved to make a raft to take all five of us 
over. This conveyance is very dangerous, for it is nothing 
but pieces of wood fastened together with ropes. We were 
an entire day preparing our wretched boat and putting it 
into the water, but that is the day we suffered most during 
our whole journey, for it snowed frightfully, with an ex- 
tremely cold northeaster, so that there fell in fourteen or fif- 
teen hours' time a good foot of snow. Notwithstanding this, 
as soon as the snow had ceased, we embarked on our machine 
with the water up to mid-leg, and landed in a meadow more 
than 200 paces wide, which we had to cross, loaded as we were, 
in mud, water, and snow up to the middle. 

We pursued our way afterward as far as the shore of the 
great lake of which I spoke before, and, contrary to all ex- 
pectation, found it still quite filled with floating ice, which 
made us think our people had not been able to set out upon it. 
We were by this time in Holy Week, and very glad to suffer 
something at that season in order to conform ourselves to our 
Lord; but we were afraid we should not succeed in rejoining 
our party before the approaching festival of Easter. 

^ Identified by Coyne as Big Creek, Norfolk County, Ontario. 



1670] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALIN:EE 201 

Meanwhile we went and awaited them on a ridge of sand, 
which joins the peninsula of Lake Erie to the mainland, and 
separates the great from the little Lake Erie. As they must 
necessarily make a portage over this ridge,^ we decided we 
could not miss them. We had no provisions left, and M. 
DoUier and myself had deprived ourselves of part of our share 
to give to our men, so that they might have more strength to 
go hunting, and God willed that they should kill a stag, which 
did us much honor, although it was very lean. 

We went and camped near the animal, and next day our 
men found us at this place, where we met again with much 
joy, and resolved not to leave the place until we should re- 
ceive the Easter sacrament together, which we did with much 
consolation.2 

On Tuesday after Easter, we set out after hearing holy 
mass, and notwithstanding the ice which still lined the entire 
lake, we launched our canoes and proceeded, still five by land, 
for two days, to the place of the canoe. As the cold was still 
very severe, the game was still in the depth of the woods and 
did not come towards the shore -of the great lake. Thus we 
were short of meat, and were five or six days eating nothing 
but a little Indian com cooked in water. 

We arrived at last at the place where our people had 
placed the canoe in question and we found it no longer there, 
because the Iroquois having come upon it during the winter, 
while hunting, had carried it off. I leave you to imagine 
whether we were embarrassed. We were without provisions, 
in a very severe season, at a place where there was no means 
of obtaining any at the time, and without being able to get 
away for lack of canoes. We could do nothing else than 
recommend the matter to God and prepare for great misery 
and suffering. We sent our people hunting for a day, and 
they did not see so much as one animal. We could not as yet 
strip bark to make a canoe, because the wood was not in sap, 
and would not become so for a month and a half, and we were 
unable to wait that time for want of provisions. 

In short, we were in this perplexity when one of our men, 
going in search of dry wood to put on the fire, came upon 

^ Now called T^ong Point Portage ; Little Lake Erie was Long Point Bay. 
* Easter in 1670 fell on April 6. 



202 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1670 

the canoe that we wanted hidden between two large trees. 
The Indians had placed it on the other side of a river^ and 
hidden it so weU that it was impossible to find it without a 
special providence of God. Everybody was delighted over 
this discovery ; and although we were without provisions, we 
thought we were in a condition to reach some good hunting 
spot soon. And in fact at the end of one day's travel we found 
ourselves in a place that appeared very suitable to put animals 
in and where there was plenty of game. We stopped there 
in the thought that we should not die of hunger, there being 
always a certainty of killing game enough to keep body and 
soul together, whilst the others were off looking for some 
animal. 

Our men went hunting accordingly, and after missing 
their aim at a herd of more than two hundred does that they 
came upon, vented their wrath on a poor wolf, which they 
skinned and brought to camp, and which was just about to 
be put in the kettle, when one of our men on the look-out 
told us that he perceived on the other side of a little lake, on 
the shore of which we were encamped, a herd of twenty or 
thirty does. We rejoiced at this news, and after we had ar- 
ranged a plan for securing them, they were surrounded from 
behind so successfully that they were obliged to take to the 
water. They were immediately overtaken with the canoes, so 
that not a single one should have escaped if we had desired: 
but we selected those that appeared to us the best, and killed 
ten, letting the rest go. 

We loaded ourselves in this place with fresh and smoked 
meat, and proceeded as far as a long point, which you will 
find marked on the map of Lake Erie.^ We landed there on 
a beautiful sand beach on the east side of the point. We had 
made that day nearly twenty leagues, so we were all very 
much tired. That was the reason why we did not carry all 
our packs up on the high ground, but left them on the sand 
and carried our canoes up on the high ground. 

Night came on, and we slept so soundly that a great north- 
east wind rising had time to agitate the lake with so much 
violence that the water rose six feet where we were, and carried 

» Probably Kettle Creek, of Elgin County, Ontario. 
' Point Pelee, of Essex County, Ontario. 



1670] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALINEE 203 

away the packs of M. DoUier's canoe that were nearest the 
water, and would have carried away all the rest if one of us 
had not awoke. Astonished to hear the lake roaring so furi- 
ously, he went to the beach to see if the baggage was safe, 
and seeing that the water already came as far as the packs 
that were placed the highest, cried out that all was lost. At 
this cry we rose and rescued the baggage of my canoe and of 
one of M. DoUier's. Pieces of bark were lighted to search 
along the river, but all that could be saved was a keg of 
powder that floated; the rest was carried away. Even the 
lead was carried away, or buried so deep in the sand that it 
coiild never be found. But the worst of all was that the en- 
tire altar service was lost. We waited for the wind to go down 
and the waters to retire, in order to go and search along the 
water, whether some debris of the wreck could not be found. 
But all that was found was a musketoon and a small bag of 
clothes belonging to one of our men ; the rest was lost beyond 
recall. Even our provisions were all lost except what was in 
my canoe. 

This accident put it out of our power to have the aid of 
the sacraments or to administer them to the rest. So we took 
counsel together to know whether we ought to stop with some 
tribe to carry on our mission there, or should return to Montreal 
for another altar service, and other goods necessary to obtain 
provisions, with a view to returning afterwards and estab- 
lishing ourselves in some spot, and this suggestion seemed to 
us the best. As the route to the Ottawas seemed to us al- 
most as short from the place where we were as the way we 
had come, and as we purposed to reach Sainte-Marie of the 
Sault, where the Ottawas assemble in order to descend in 
company, before they should leave, we thought we should 
descend with them more easily. Add to this, moreover, that 
we were better pleased to see a new country than to turn back. 

We pursued our journey accordingly towards the west, and 
after making about 100 leagues on Lake Erie arrived at the 
place where the Lake of the Hurons, otherwise called the 
Fresh Water Sea of the Hurons, or Michigan, discharges into 
this lake. This outlet is perhaps half a league in width and 
turns sharp to the northeast, so that we were almost retracing 
our path. At the end of six leagues we discovered a place 



204 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1670 

that is very remarkable, and held in great veneration by all 
the Indians of these countries, because of a stone idol that 
nature has formed there. To it they say they owe their good 
luck in sailing on Lake Erie, when they cross it without ac- 
cident, and they propitiate it by sacrifices, presents of skins, 
provisions, etc., when they wish to embark on it. The place 
was fuU of camps of those who had come to pay their homage 
to this stone, which had no other resemblance to the figure 
of a man than w^hat the imagination was pleased to give it. 
However, it was all painted, and a sort of face had been formed 
for it with vermillion. I leave you to imagine whether we 
avenged upon this idol, which the Iroquois had strongly 
recommended us to honor, the loss of our chapel. We attrib- 
uted to it even the dearth of provisions from which we had 
hitherto suffered. In short, there was nobody whose hatred 
it had not incurred. I consecrated one of my axes to break 
this god of stone, and then having yoked our canoes together 
we carried the largest pieces to the middle of the river, and 
threw all the rest also into the water, in order that it might 
never be heard of again. God rewarded us immediately for this 
good action, for we killed a roebuck and a bear that very day. 

At the end of four leagues we entered a small lake, about 
ten leagues in length and almost as many in width, called by 
M. Sanson the Salt Water Lake, but we saw no sign of salt 
in this lake.^ 

We entered the outlet of Lake Michigan, which is not a 
quarter of a league in width. At length, after ten or twelve 
leagues, we entered the largest lake in all America, called the 
Fresh Water Sea of the Hurons, or in Algonkin, "Michigan." 
It is 660 or 700 leagues in circumference. We travelled about 
200 leagues on this lake, and were really afraid of being in 
want of provisions because the animals of this lake appear 
very unprolific. However, God did not will that we should 
lack in His service ; for we were never more than a day with- 
out food. It is true that we happened several times to have 

^ Nicolas Sanson d'Abbeville's map of 1656 is here referred to. Lake St. 
Clair was spoken of as "Salt Water Lake" from the time of Champlain, possibly 
because of a knowledge of Michigan salines in the neighborhood. The present 
name was assigned by Father Hennepin, who passed through this lake August 
12, 1679, the f6te-day of Ste. Claire. 



1670] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALINEE 205 

nothing left, and to pass an evening and a morning without 
having anything whatever to put in the kettle; but I did 
not see that anyone became discouraged or troubled on that 
account. For we were so accustomed to see God aiding us 
mightily on these occasions, that we awaited with tranquillity 
the effects of His bounty, in the thought that He who nour- 
ished so many barbarians in these woods would not abandon 
His servants. 

Although this lake is as large as the Caspian Sea, and 
much larger than Lake Erie, storms do not arise in it either so 
violent or so long, because it is not very deep. Thus in many 
places, after the wind has gone down, it does not require more 
than five or six hours, whilst it will be necessary sometimes to 
wait one or two days until Lake Erie is calmed down. 

We crossed this lake without any danger and entered 
the Lake of the Hurons,^ which conomunicates with it by 
four mouths, each of them nearly two leagues in width. At 
last we arrived on the 25th May, the Day of Pentecost, at 
Sainte-Marie of the Sault, the place where the Reverend 
Jesuit Fathers have made their principal establishment for 
the missions of the Ottawas and neighboring tribes. They 
have had two men in their service since last year, who have 
built them a pretty fort, that is to say, a square of cedar posts 
twelve feet high, with a chapel and house inside the fort so 
that now they see themselves in the condition of not being 
dependent in any way on the Indians. They have a large 
clearing well planted, from which they ought to gather a 
good part of their sustenance; they are even hoping to eat 
bread there within two years from now. Before arriving here, 
we fell in with three canoes of Indians, with whom we arrived 
at the fort of the Fathers. These men informed us of the 
custom they had when they reached the fort, of saluting it 
with several gunshots, which we also did very gladly. 

We were received at this place with all possible charity. 
We were present at a portion of vespers on the day of Pente- 
cost, and the two following days. We received the communion 
with so much the more joy, inasmuch as for nearly a month 
and a half we had not been able to enjoy this blessing. 

The fruit these Fathers are producing here is more for the 

^ Georgian Bay. 



206 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1670 

French, who are here often to the number of 20 or 25, than for 
the Indians; for although there are some who have been 
baptized, there are none yet that are good enough CathoHcs 
to be able to attend divine service, which is held for the 
French, who sing high mass and vespers on saints' days and 
Sundays. The Fathers have, in this connection, a practice 
which seems to me rather extraordinary, which is, that they 
baptize adults not in danger of death, when they have mani- 
fested any good-will toward Christianity, before they are 
capable either of confessing or of attending holy mass, or 
keeping the other commandments of the Church; so that at 
Pointe du Saint-Esprit, a place at the head of Lake Superior, 
where the remnant of the Hurons retired after the burning 
of their villages, the Father who passed the winter with them 
told me that although there was a large portion of them who 
had been baptized when the Fathers had been amongst the 
Hurons, he had never yet ventured to say mass before them, 
because these people regard this service as jugglery or witch- 
craft. 

I saw no particular sign of Christianity amongst the In- 
dians of this place, nor in any other country of the Ottawas, 
except one woman of the nation of the Amikoues, who had 
been instructed formerly at the French settlements, and who, 
being as she thought in danger of death, begged M. DoUier 
to have pity on her. He reminded her of her old instructions 
and the obligation she was under of confessing herseK, if she 
had offended God since her last confession, a very long time 
before, and he confessed her with great testimonies of joy on 
both sides. 

When we were with the Fathers we were still more than 
300 leagues from Montreal, to which, however, we wished to 
proceed at once, in order to be able to return at an early day 
to some of the Ottawa tribes and winter there, and in the fol- 
lowing spring to go in search of the River Ohio and the races 
settled there, in order to carry the Gospel to them. 

We learned that two days previously a fleet of 30 Ottawa 
canoes had set out for Montreal, and that there was still an- 
other of Kilistinons which was to leave shortly. As we were 
not certain at what time the latter were to come, and knew, 
besides, the trouble there is in being obliged to follow Indians, 



1670] JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALIN^E 207 

we judged it more convenient to look out for a guide to con- 
duct us to Montreal, because the routes are more difl&cult 
and toilsome than can be imagined. We succeeded in finding 
one at an expense of 25 or 30 crowns' worth of goods, which 
we simply had to promise, so we took leave of Fathers d'Ablon 
and Marquette, who were then at this place, it being the 28th 
of May. 

Hitherto the country of the Ottawas had passed in my 
mind, and in the minds of all those in Canada, as a place where 
there was a great deal of suffering for want of food. But I 
am so well persuaded of the contrary that I know of no region 
in all Canada where they are less in want of it. The nation 
of the Saulteaux, or in Algonkin Waoiiitikoungka Entaouakk 
or Ojibways, amongst whom the Fathers are established, live 
from the melting of the snows until the beginning of winter 
on the bank of a river nearly half a league wide and three 
leagues long, by which Lake Superior falls into the Lake of 
the Hurons. This river forms at this place a rapid so teem- 
ing with fish, called white fish, or in Algonkin attikamegue, 
that the Indians could easily catch enough to feed 10,000 
men. It is true the fishing is so difficult that only Indians 
can carry it on. No Frenchman has hitherto been able to 
succeed in it, nor any other Indian than those of this tribe, 
who are used to this kind of fishing from an early age. But, in 
short, this fish is so cheap that they give ten or twelve of them 
for four fingers of tobacco. Each weighs six or seven pounds, 
but it is so big and so delicate that I know of no fish that ap- 
proaches it. Sturgeon is caught in this small river, close by, 
in abundance. Meat is so cheap here that for a pound of 
glass beads I had four minots of fat entrails of moose, which 
is the best morsel of the animal. This shows how many these 
people kill. It is at these places that one gets a beaver robe 
for a fathom of tobacco, sometimes for a quarter of a pound 
of powder, sometimes for six knives, sometimes for a fathom 
of smaU blue beads, etc. This is the reason why the French 
go there, notwithstanding the frightful difficulties that are 
encountered. 

In going there from Montreal it is necessary to ascend a 
river^ in which thirty portages must be made in order to 

* Ottawa River. 



208 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1670 

avoid a like number of falls or rapids, in which, if one ran them, 
he would incur the danger of losing a thousand lives. From 
this river, which is as large as the River St. Lawrence, one 
passes, half by land and half by water, the space of twenty- 
five or thirty leagues, to get to the Lake of the Nipissings, 
from which one descends by French River, where there are 
four or five more waterfalls, to the Lake of the Hurons. 

The greatest difficulty is in descending; for if one does 
not know exactly where the landings are, to make the port- 
ages, he runs the risk of being swallowed up in the falls and 
perishing, to say nothing of the difficulty of the portages, 
which are generally amongst stones and gravel. One often 
ventures into the less difficult channels, in which if the man 
who steers the canoe or the man in front were to fail sometimes 
by the thickness of a silver crown to pass between rocks and 
whirlpools that are found in these channels, the canoe would 
be wrecked or fill with water, and one would see himself 
swallowed up in places that look horrible. This is only too 
common, and a Jesuit brother who descended after us, wrecked 
his canoe in one of these channels ; and few canoes are seen 
belonging to Indians who have made the Montreal trip which 
are not well patched. God protected us so especially that no 
harm happened to us, although of forty-five or fifty portages 
that are made going up, we saved seventeen or eighteen coming 
down. However, we had a very good guide and men who 
were not novices in these channels. 

We arrived at last at Montreal on the 18th of June, after 
twenty-two days of the most fatiguing travelling that I have 
ever done in my life. Moreover, I was attacked towards the 
end of the journey with a tertian fever, which somewhat 
moderated the joy I should have had in arriving at Montreal, 
on seeing myself at last back in the midst of our dear brethren, 
if I had been in full health. We were received by everybody, 
and especially by the Abbe de Queylus, with demonstrations 
of particular kindness. We were looked upon rather as per- 
sons risen from the dead than as common men. 

Everybody desired me to make the map of our journey, 
which I have done accurately enough; however, I recognize 
rather serious faults in it still, which I will correct when I 
have time. I send it to you such as it is, and beg you to have 



1670J JOURNAL OF DOLLIER AND GALINJ^E 209 

the goodness to accept it, because I have made it just now for 
you. I have marked in it nothing but what I saw. Thus 
you will find only one side of each lake, since their width is 
so great that one cannot see the other. I have made it as a 
marine chart, that is to say, the meridians do not converge 
near the poles, because I am more familiar with these maps 
than with the geographical ones, and, moreover, the former 
are comimonly more exact than the others.^ 

^ Faillon, Histoire de la Colonie Frangaise en Canada, III. 305 (1866), gives 
a reproduction of this map and says that it is in the Archives de la Marine at 
Paris. Parkman, La Salle, pp. 449-450, describes it. Harrisse, in his Notes 
sur la Nouvelle France (1872), No. 200, says that he could not find it there, and 
it is not in De la Roncifere's Catalogue of the manuscripts of the Marine. There 
is a copy of it, made in 1856 from the original at Paris, in the Library of Parlia- 
ment at Ottawa. This is reproduced and compared with other copies by James 
H. Coyne in the Ontario Historical Society's Papers and Records, IV. 



THE PAGEANT OF 1671 



INTRODUCTION 

Seventeenth-century France had imperial ambitions. 
Louis XIV. and his great minister Colbert aimed not only at 
domination in Europe, but at empire in North America. At 
the instigation of the intendant, Jean Talon, the royal court 
determined to lay claim to all the territory discovered by 
French enterprise and all the valleys traversed by French 
priests or traders, and to assert supremacy over all the aborig- 
ines dwelling therein. In the summer of 1670 plans were 
set on foot for a pageant of possession to impress the Indian 
tribesmen, and to proclaim to the world the right of France to 
the great interior of the North American Continent. 

The site chosen was the Jesuit mission of Sault Ste. Marie, 
the centre of missionary enterprise in the Northwest, whose 
location at the head of the Great Lakes made it appropriate 
and commanding. Talon, newly returned from a visit to 
France, brought orders for the arrangement of the pageant. 
The titular head of the expedition was a French soldier of 
fortune who had crossed to Canada on the same vessel with 
the intendant. Simon Frangois Daumont, Sieur de St. Lusson, 
owes his place in history to the memory of this one event. 
Upon its conclusion he was sent with dispatches to the King, 
and never returned to the New World. 

The other chief actors in the pageant, however, were men 
of experience in Western exploration, and of skill in the man- 
agement of Indians. Nicolas Perrot, lately arrived at Que- 
bec (1670) after five years among the tribes around Green 
Bay, was chosen translator and Indian agent for the expedi- 
tion ; Louis JolHet, soon to start on his famed voyage of dis- 

213 



214 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

covery, likewise accompanied Sieur de St. Lusson; while at 
Sault Ste. Marie four Jesuits of great experience in Indian 
affairs awaited the cortege. Contrary to the usual custom 
of inland voyaging the expedition left Montreal in the autumn ; 
therefore the winter was passed at Manitoulin Islands, and 
in the early spring runners were sent out to notify the North- 
em tribes to come and participate in the proposed ceremony. 
Perrot himself went to Green Bay, whence he accompanied 
to the designated place chiefs of the Potawatomi, Menominee, 
Winnebago, and Sauk Indians — ^those of the other bay tribes 
attending only by proxy. Upon Perrot's arrival early in June 
at the Jesuits' house at the Sault, he found delegates from 
fourteen different tribes assembled, awaiting the pleasure of 
the King's ambassador. 

In solemn conclave the ceremony took place in the lovely 
mid-June of the Northern lakes, beside the foaming waters 
of the straits, with dark pines and hemlocks standing atten- 
tive. St. Lusson, clad in the gorgeous uniform of a French 
officer of the seventeenth century, ascended a small height 
on which the cross and the arms of New France had been 
planted. Jesuits and voyageurs gathered around him while 
with bared head and flashing sword he announced the purpose 
of the concourse, amidst the hymns of the missionaries, the 
whoops of the savages, and the salvos of musketry from all 
assembled. With quaint old mediaeval rites of twig and turf, 
the King's representative proclaimed thrice in a loud voice 
the annexation by the "Most High, Most Mighty and Most 
Redoubtable Monarch Louis the XIV. of the Name, Most 
Christian King of France and Navarre" of all countries dis- 
covered or to be discovered between the Northern, Western, 
and Southern Seas — a realm that in all its length and breadth 
included an empire many times the size and richness of the 
home land of France and Navarre. After the ceremony had 
been carefully explained to the assembled Indians papers were 



INTRODUCTION 215 

drawn up and signed by all the white men present. Father 
Allouez then arose and in fitting phrase adapted to Indian 
understanding declared to the assembled chieftains the great- 
ness and power of the sovereign under whose dominion they 
had passed. St. Lusson followed with a martial address, and 
the ceremony terminated with a huge bonfire, which lighted 
the depths of the dark wilderness with its fitful gleams — strange 
emblem of the brief sovereignty of France in the New World, 
that flamed so brightly for a time, and so quickly died away. 

There are three contemporaneous accounts of the great 
pageant at Sault Ste. Marie. Of these the first is the official 
state paper or minutes of the ceremony. This was published in 
Pierre Margry, Decouvertes et Etahlissements des Frangais dans 
I'Amerique Septentrionale, I. 96-99. It appeared in English 
form in the New York Colonial Documents, IX. 803-804, from 
which it was reprinted in Wisconsin Historical Collections, 
XL 26-28. This records the names of the tribes whose rep- 
resentatives were present, and gives a resume of St. Lusson's 
speech and the signatures of the participants — the Jesuits, 
Perrot, and JoUiet, and the fifteen voyageurs and soldiers 
who accompanied the expedition. 

The second account is that of Nicolas Perrot in his 
Memoire, first published in France in 1868, first translated 
in full in E. H. Blair, Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi 
and the Great Lakes Region (Cleveland, 1911). Perrot relates 
how Talon enlisted his services for the expedition in the sum- 
mer of 1670, and describes the winter passed on Manitoulin 
Island where the Chippewa of the vicinity snared more than 
two thousand four hundred moose. He tells of his spring jour- 
ney to the Bay of Puans (Green Bay) partly by sledge and 
partly by canoe, describes the summoning of the tribes, and 
the departure of the delegation for Sault Ste. Marie, gives 
a brief notice of the ceremony, and concludes in story-tellers' 
fashion, "After that, all those peoples returned to their re- 



216 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

spective abodes, and lived many years without any trouble 
in that quarter." 

The third contemporary account, which we have chosen 
to present here, is given by the Jesuit missionaries in part 
third of the Relation of 1670-1671. This was published in 
Paris at the Cramoisy shop in 1672 ; the English translation 
that we reproduce is from Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, IV. 
105-115. 



THE PAGEANT OF 1671 

Taking Possession, in the King^s Name, of all the Countries 
Commonly Included under the Designation Outaouac. 

It is not our present purpose to describe this ceremony 
in detail, but merely to touch on matters relating to Chris- 
tianity and the welfare of our missions, which are going to 
be more flourishing than ever after what occurred to their 
advantage on this occasion. 

When Monsieur Talon, our intendant, returned from 
Portugal, and after his shipwreck, he was commanded by the 
King to return to this country ; and at the same time received 
his Majesty's orders to exert himself strenuously for the 
establishment of Christianity here, by aiding our missions, 
and to cause the name and the sovereignty of our invincible 
monarch to be acknowledged by even the least known and the 
most remote nations. These commands, reinforced by the 
designs of the minister, who is ever equally alert to extend 
God's glory, and to promote that of his King in every land, 
were obeyed as speedily as possible. Monsieur Talon had no 
sooner landed than he considered means for insuring the suc- 
cess of these plans, choosing, to that end, Sieur de Saint Lus- 
son, whom he cormnissioned to take possession, in his place 
and in his Majesty's name, of the territories lying between 
the east and the west, from Montreal as far as the South 
Sea, covering the utmost extent and range possible. 

For this purpose, after wintering on the Lake of the Hu- 
rons, Monsieur de Saint Lusson repaired to Sainte Marie du 
Sault early in May of this year, 1671. First, he summoned 
the surrounding tribes living within a radius of a hundred 
leagues, and even more; and they responded through their 
ambassadors, to the number of fourteen nations. After mak- 
ing all necessary preparations for the successful issue of the 
whole undertaking to the honor of France, he began, on June 
fourth^ of the same year, with the most solenm ceremony 
ever observed in these regions. 

^This day is incorrect; according to the official minutes the ceremony 
occurred on June 14, 1671. 

217 



218 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1671 

For, when all had assembled in a great public council, 
and a height had been chosen well adapted to his purpose, 
overlooking, as it did, the village of the people of the Sault, 
he caused the Cross to be planted there, and then the King's 
standard to be raised, with all the pomp that he could devise. 

The Cross was pubhcly blessed, with all the ceremonies 
of the Church, by the superior of these missions ; and then, 
when it had been raised from the ground for the purpose of 
planting it, the Vexilla^ was sung. Many Frenchmen there 
present at the time joined in this hymn, to the wonder and 
delight of the assembled savages ; while the whole company 
was filled with a common joy at the sight of this glorious 
standard of Jesus Christ, which seemed to have been raised 
so high only to rule over the hearts of all these poor peoples. 

Then the French escutcheon, fixed to a cedar pole, was 
also erected, above the Cross; while the Exaudiat'^ was 
sung, and prayer for his Majesty's sacred person was offered 
in that far-away corner of the world. After this. Monsieur de 
Saint Lusson, observing all the forms customary on such 
occasions,^ took possession of those regions, whHe the air 
resounded with repeated shouts of "Long live the King!" 
and with the discharge of musketry, to the delight and as- 
tonishment of all those peoples, who had never seen anything 
of the kind. 

After this confused uproar of voices and muskets had 
ceased, perfect silence was imposed upon the whole assem- 
blage ; and Father Claude Allouez began to eulogize the King, 
in order to make all those nations understand what sort of a 
man he was whose standard they beheld, and to whose sover- 

1 This hymn, Vexilla Regis Prodeunt, now a part of the Roman Breviary, 
was written by Venantius Fortunatus in the latter part of the sixth century. 

2 The twentieth Psalm. 

3 According to the official minutes these customary ceremonies consisted 
in shouting aloud three times, "In the name of the Most High, Most Mighty 
and Most Redoubtable Monarch Louis, the Fourteenth of the Name, Most 
Christian King of France and Navarre, we take possession of the said place of 
St. Marie of the Falls as well as of Lakes Huron and Superior, the island of 
Caientonon (Manitoulin) and of all other countries, rivers, lakes and tributaries, 
contiguous and adjacent thereunto, as well discovered as to be discovered, which 
are bounded on the one side by the Northern and Western Seas and on the other 
side by the South Sea including all its length and breadth ; Raising at each of 
the said three times a sod of earth whilst crying Vive le Roy." 



16711 THE PAGEANT OF 1671 219 

eignty they were that day submitting. Being well versed in 
their tongue and in their ways, he was so successful in adapt- 
ing himself to their comprehension as to give them such an 
opinion of our incomparable monarch's greatness that they 
have no words with which to express their thoughts upon the 
subject. 

"Here is an excellent matter brought to your attention, 
my brothers," said he to them, "a great and important 
matter, which is the cause of this council. Cast your eyes 
upon the Cross raised so high above your heads: there it 
was that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, making himself man 
for the love of men, was pleased to be fastened and to die, 
in atonement to his Eternal Father for our sins. He is the 
master of our lives, of Heaven, of Earth, and of Hell. Of 
Him I have always spoken to you, and His name and word I 
have borne into all these countries. But look likewise at that 
other post, to which are afi&xed the armorial bearings of the 
great captain of France whom we call King. He lives be- 
yond the sea ; he is the captain of the greatest captains, and 
has not his equal in the world. All the captains you have 
ever seen, or of whom you have ever heard, are mere children 
compared with him. He is like a great tree, and they, only 
like little plants that we tread under foot in walking. You 
know about Onnontio, that famous captain of Quebec. You 
know and feel that he is the terror of the Iroquois, and that 
his very name makes them tremble, now that he has laid 
waste their country and set fire to their villages. Beyond the 
sea there are ten thousand Onnontios like him, who are only 
the soldiers of that great captain, our Great King, of whom I 
am speaking. When he says, 'I am going to war,' all obey 
him; and those ten thousand captains raise companies of a 
hundred soldiers each, both on sea and on land. Some em- 
bark in ships, one or two hundred in number, like those that 
you have seen at Quebec. Your canoes hold only four or five 
men, or, at the very most, ten or twelve. Our ships in France 
hold four or five hundred, and even as many as a thousand. 
Other men make war by land, but in such vast numbers that, 
if drawn up in a double file, they would extend farther than 
from here to Mississaquenk,^ although the distance exceeds 

* The present island of Mackinac. 



220 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1671 

twenty leagues. When he attacks, he is more terrible than 
the thunder: the earth trembles, the air and the sea are set 
on fire by the discharge of his cannon ; while he has been seen 
amid his squadrons, all covered with the blood of his foes, 
of whom he has slain so many with his sword that he does not 
count their scalps, but the rivers of blood which he sets flow- 
ing. So many prisoners of war does he lead away that he makes 
no accoimt of them, letting them go about whither they will, 
to show that he does not fear them. No one now dares make 
war upon him, all nations beyond the sea having most sub- 
missively sued for peace. From all parts of the world people 
go to listen to his words and to admire him, and he alone 
decides all the affairs of the world. WHiat shall I say of his 
wealth? You count yourselves rich when you have ten or 
twelve sacks of corn, some hatchets, glass beads, kettles, or 
other things of that sort. He has towns of his own, more in 
number than you have people in all these countries five hundred 
leagues around ; while in each town there are warehouses con- 
taining enough hatchets to cut down all your forests, kettles 
to cook all your moose, and glass beads to fill all your cabins. 
His house is longer than from here to the head of the Sault," 
that is, more than half a league, "and higher than the tallest 
of your trees ; and it contains more families than the largest 
of your villages can hold." 

The Father added much more of this sort, which was re- 
ceived with wonder by those people, who were all astonished 
to hear that there was any man on earth so great, rich, and 
powerful. 

Following this speech, Monsieur de Saint Lusson took 
the word, and stated to them in martial and eloquent lan- 
guage the reasons for which he had summoned them, and 
especially that he was sent to take possession of that region, 
to receive them under the protection of the great King whose 
panegyric they had just heard, and to form thenceforth but 
one land of their territories and ours. The whole ceremony 
was closed with a fine bonfire, which was lighted toward eve- 
ning, and around which the Te Deum was sung to thank God, 
on behalf of those poor peoples, that they were now the sub- 
jects of so great and powerful a monarch. 



THE MISSISSIPPI VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND 
MARQUETTE, 1673 



INTRODUCTION 

From the days of Champlain the thoughts of the founders 
of New France had been haunted by the mystery of the 
Mississippi. Its discovery was the burning question of the 
day, and the successful accompHshment of that discovery 
has been ascribed to many of the early explorers. Nicolet is 
supposed to have visited westward-flowing streams that led 
ultimately to the Mississippi. Radisson no doubt crossed the 
great river somewhere in its upper reaches. Perrot, before 
the voyage of Marquette^ was cognizant of its existence. La 
Salle, after leaving DoUier de Casson and Galinee at the head 
of Lake Ontario in 1669, may have ventured as far as the 
mouth of the Ohio. Allouez, in the same year, first mentioned 
the Mississippi by its present name. Whatever these earlier 
explorers may have accomplished, the first recorded voyage on 
the Mississippi is that of JoUiet and Marquette, who among 
their contemporaries stood accredited as the discoverers of the 
great river. 

By 1673, the year of their departure, the time was ripe 
for a definite voyage of discovery. From Indian descriptions 
and the vague suggestions of early travellers and traders, all 
New France believed in the existence of a great river draining 
to the west or south, beyond the rim of the Great Lakes. 
Expectation of immediate access to the South Sea had dimin- 
ished, and a route to China was less eagerly sought than a 
vast new hinterland to explore and occupy. 

Coimt de Frontenac, who in 1672 came to New France as 
vice-regent for Louis XIV., had the imperial imagination of 
the great Frenchmen of his time. The pageant of St. Lusson, 

223 



224 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

at the outlet of the greatest of the Great Lakes, was to his 
mind a prophecy to be fulfilled by the annexation of the great 
interior valleys stretching north, west, and south, whose only 
boundaries should be the oceans, and whose perpetual sover- 
eign should dwell in France. True, the Spaniards were some- 
where in this vast domain, but just where no one knew, and 
Frontenac cared little, since Louis XIV. was already planning 
to annex their crown to his own. 

The road that led to the great river was well known to 
Canadians. Perrot had traded up and down its length as 
far as the Mascoutin village ; Allouez and Dablon had several 
times mounted the rapids of the lower Fox and gone far on 
the way to the portage ; it only remained to choose qualified 
voyagers and prepare them for the journey. The choice fell 
upon Louis JoUiet, partly perhaps because of his Canadian 
birth, certainly because of his successful journey of 1668-1669, 
as narrated in Galinee above, and his connection with St. 
Lusson in the pageant of 1671. With all such enterprises it 
was customary that a priest should be associated. That the 
gentle Jacques Marquette was chosen for this mission seems 
to have been a response to his longing "to obtain from God 
the grace of being able to visit the nations who dwell along 
the Mississippi River," of which he had heard so frequently 
in his northern missions of St. Esprit de Chequamegon and St. 
Ignace de Michilimackinac. 

Marquette seems to have been one of those gifted beings 
to whom the satisfaction of desires is granted, because in 
themselves the desires are so pure and altruistic. Bom at 
Laon (1637), he cherished from childhood ideals of a religious 
life. Entering the Jesuit order in 1654, his longing to be sent 
to a foreign mission was gratified by a voyage to Canada in 
1666. Thence he was detailed in 1669 to replace Allouez on 
the shores of the Chequamegon Bay. Two years later he 
followed his neophjrtes to Mackinac, where upon the northern 



INTRODUCTION 225 

side of the strait he built the mission of St. Ignace. Thence 
he set forth for the Mississippi journey, never to return to his 
northern home, but to obtain his last and final wish to die a 
martyr to the cause he loved. 

The accident of the loss of the journals of JoUiet made 
those of his fellow discoverer doubly valued, and secured his 
fame forever. The story is a pleasant one, of gentle rivers, 
wide landscapes, friendly Indians for the most part — an un- 
eventful chronicle save for the vast significance of the dis- 
covery. Although perhaps the courage required for the voy- 
age has been exaggerated, it is certain that the Indians tried 
to dissuade the travellers by tales of fierce enemies and horrid 
monsters. Instead, however, were only timid savages pacified 
or reassured by the powerfiil calumet, and painted dragons 
on the high cliffs that frowned as the canoes slipped by. Still 
more to be dreaded, once famiHar shores were left behind, had 
been unknown rapids and falls, which, however, proved to be 
almost non-existent, lost in the full current of the onward- 
moving stream. The wide entrances of the two great tribu- 
taries — the Missouri and Ohio — were located and mapped; 
and finally at the Arkansas village, when the course of the 
great stream had been clearly determined as descending to 
the Mexican Gulf, the return journey was begun. Continued 
along the Illinois River, past the Kaskaskia Indian village, and 
over the Des Plaines-Chicago portage, skirting the western 
shore of Lake Michigan to Sturgeon Bay, the momentous 
voyage ended, the last of September, at the mission house at 
De Pere. 

Thence JoUiet hastened to report to the governor at Que- 
bec, while Father Marquette among his trusted and eager 
friends set himself to writing the story of the journey which 
we here present. 

The autograph manuscripts of his account of his two voy- 
ages were kept for a century and a half in the Jesuit convent 



226 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

at Montreal. An abridged form of Marquette's journal was 
early sent to Paris and published there in 1681 by Melchis^dec 
Thevenot in his Recueil de Voyages. The Catholic historian 
John G. Shea first made known to historians the original 
manuscripts, publishing them with an English translation in 
1852. Several other editions followed, until in 1899 Dr. 
R. G. Thwaites in Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, 
LIX., printed the definitive edition from the original docu- 
ments, lent him by their custodian Father Arthur E. Jones of 
St. Mary's College, Montreal. We reprint from this edition, 
LIX. 87-163, the record of the Mississippi voyage; that of 
the final voyage follows. 



THE MISSISSIPPI VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND 
MARQUETTE, 1673 

Of the first Voyage made by Father Marquette toward New Mexico, 
and how the Idea thereof was conceived.^ 

The Father had long premeditated this undertaking, in- 
fluenced by a most ardent desire to extend the kingdom of 
Jesus Christ, and to make him known and adored by all the 
peoples of that countiy. He saw himself, as it were, at the 
door of these new nations when, as early as the year 1670, he 
was laboring in the mission at the Point of St. Esprit, at the 
extremity of Lake Superior, among the Outaouacs ; ^ he even 
saw occasionally various persons belonging to these new peo- 
ples, from whom he obtained all the information that he could. 
This induced him to make several efforts to commence this 
undertaking, but ever in vain ; and he even lost all hope of 
succeeding therein, when God brought about for him the fol- 
lowing opportunity. 

In the year 1673, Monsieur the Count de Frontenac, our 
govemor,^ and Monsieur Talon, then our intendant, recog- 
nizing the importance of this discovery — either that they 
might seek a passage from here to the Sea of China, by the 
river that discharges into the Vermillion, or California Sea; 
or because they desired to verify what has for some time been 

1 This introduction was written by Father Claude Dablon, superior of the 
mission. 

2 For this mission, see Allouez's narrative, pp. 115-118, ante. Marquette 
superseded the former at La Pointe du St. Esprit in the autumn of 1669. 

3 Louis de Buade, Count de Frontenac, was the greatest governor of New 
France during the seventeenth century. Born in 1620, he entered the army at 
the age of fifteen, and was in active service for many years. In 1672 he was sent 
to Canada as governor-general. Recalled ten years later because of dissensions 
with the Jesuits, he was again in 1689 sent to save the colony from destruction 
by the Iroquois. In 1696 he invaded their territory, compelled them to peace, 
and returned triumphant. He died at Quebec, November 28, 1698. 

227 



228 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 

said concerning the two kingdoms of Theguaio and Quivira/ 
which border on Canada, and in which numerous gold mines 
are reported to exist — these gentlemen, I say, appointed at 
the same time for this undertaking Sieur Jolyet, whom they 
considered very fit for so great an enterprise ; and they were 
well pleased that Father Marquette should be of the party. 

They were not mistaken in the choice that they made of 
Sieur Jolyet, for he is a young man, born in this country, who 
possesses all the qualifications that could be desired for such 
an undertaking. He has experience and knows the languages 
spoken in the country of the Outaouacs, where he has passed 
several years. He possesses tact and prudence^ which are the 
chief qualities necessary for the success of a voyage as danger- 
ous as it is difficult. Finally, he has the courage to dread 
nothing where everything is to be feared. Consequently, he 
has fulfilled all the expectations entertained of him ; and if, 
after having passed through a thousand dangers, he had not 
unfortunately been wrecked in the very harbor, his canoe 
having upset below Sault St. Louys, near Montreal, wnere he 
lost both his men and his papers, and whence he escaped only 
by a sort of miracle, nothing would have been left to be de- 
sired in the success of his voyage. 

Section 1. Departure of Father Jacques Marquette for the Dis- 
covery of the Great River called by the Savages Alissisipij 
which leads to New Mexico. 

The feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed 
Virgin^ — whom I have always invoked since I have been in 
this country of the Outaouacs, to obtain from God the grace 
of being able to visit the nations who dwell along the Mis- 
sisipi River — was precisely the day on which Monsieur Jolly et 
arrived with orders from Monsieur the Count de Frontenac, 

^ The reference is to sixteenth-century Spanish accounts of explorations 
north from Mexico. Theguaio or Tiguex was a pueblo of New Mexico ; see, in 
the present series, in the volume entitled Spanish Explorers in the Southern United 
States, 1528-1543, Mr. Frederick W. Hodge's edition of the Journey of Coronado, 
pp. 312-324. Quivira was the region sought by Coronado (Southern Kansas) ; 
ibid., p. 337, note. See also the New Mexico section of Professor Herbert E. 
Bolton's Spanish Exploration in the Southwest, 1542-1706, in the same series. 

' This feast falls on December 8. 



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-- .i-*... ■•-'Ji^ ^ ,- 







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CONTEMPORARY MAP MADE TO ILLUSTRATE MARQUETTE'S DISCOVERIES 
From the original in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Parii 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 229 

our governor, and Monsieur Talon, our intendant, to accom- 
plish this discovery with me. I was all the more delighted at 
this good news, since I saw that my plans were about to be 
accomplished ; and since I found myself in the blessed neces- 
sity of exposing my life for the salvation of all these peoples, 
and especially of the Ilinois, who had very urgently entreated 
me, when I was at the Point of St. Esprit, to carry the word of 
God to their country. 

We were not long in preparing all our equipment, although 
we were about to begin a voyage, the duration of which we 
could not foresee. Indian corn, with some smoked meat, con- 
stituted all our provisions; with these we embarked — Mon- 
sieur Jollyet and myself, with five men — in two bark canoes, 
fully resolved to do and suffer everything for so glorious an 
undertaking. 

Accordingly, on the 17th day of May, 1673, we started 
from the mission of St. Ignace at Michllimakinac, where I 
then was.^ The joy that we felt at being selected for this 
expedition animated our courage, and rendered the labor of 
paddling from morning to night agreeable to us. And be- 
cause we were going to seek unknown countries, we took 
every precaution in our power, so that, if our undertaking 
were hazardous, it should not be foolhardy. To that end, 
we obtained all the information that we could from the sav- 
ages who had frequented those regions; and we even traced 
out from their reports a map^ of the whole of that new coun- 
try ; on it we indicated the rivers which we were to navigate, 
the names of the peoples and of the places through which we 
were to pass, the course of the great river, and the direction 
we were to follow when we reached it. 

Above all, I placed our voyage under the protection of 
the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, promising her that, if she 
granted us the favor of discovering the great river, I would 

^ The mission of St. Ignace, founded by Marquette in 1671, was on the 
north shore of the Straits of Mackinac. It was maintained throughout the 
seventeenth century. See Thwaites, "The Story of Mackinac," in Wis. Hist. 
Colls., XIV. 1-16. 

'^ This map, which is preserved with Marquette's manuscript in St. Mary's 
College, Montreal, was drawn, as Marquette says, from Indian information 
before the voyage was undertaken. See "Marquette's Map" in Wis. Hist. Soc. 
Proceedings, 1906, pp. 183-193. 



230 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 

give it the name of the Conception, and that I would also make 
the first mission that I should establish among those new peo- 
ples, bear the same name. This I have actually done, among 
the Hinois.^ 

Section 2. The Father visits, in passing, the Tribes of the Folle 
Avoine. What that Folle Avoine is. He enters the Bay des 
Puants; some Particulars about that Bay. He arrives 
among the Fire Nation. 

With all these precautions, we joyfully plied our paddles 
on a portion of Lake Huron, on that of the Ilinois and the 
Bay des Puants. 

The first nation that we came to was that of the Folle 
Avoine.2 I entered their river, to go and visit these peoples 
to whom we have preached the Gospel for several years, in 
consequence of which, there are several good Christians among 
them. 

The wild oat, whose name they bear because it is found in 
their country, is a sort of grass, which grows naturally in the 
small rivers with muddy bottoms, and in swampy places. 
It greatly resembles the wild oats that grow amid our wheat. 
The ears grow upon hollow stems, jointed at intervals ; they 
emerge from the water about the month of June, and continue 
growing until they rise about two feet above it. The grain is 
not larger than that of our oats, but it is twice as long, and 
the meal therefrom is much more abundant. The savages 
gather and prepare it for food as follows. In the month of 
September, which is the suitable time for the harvest, they 
go in canoes through these fields of wild oats ; they shake its 
ears into the canoe, on both sides, as they pass through. The 
grain falls out easily, if it be ripe, and they obtain their supply 
in a short time. But, in order to clean it from the straw, 
and to remove it from a husk in which it is enclosed, they dry 

^The name "Conception" for the Mississippi appears only on the map 
drawn by Marquette before the voyage. The name applied to the IlHnois mis- 
sion persisted — it was known throughout its existence as the Mission of the Im- 
maculate Conception. 

* The French name for the Menominee tribe, for whom see p. 76, note 1, 
ante. 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 231 

it in the smoke, upon a wooden grating, under which they 
maintain a slow fire for some days. When the oats are thor- 
oughly dry, they put them in a skin made into a bag, thrust it 
into a hole dug in the ground for this purpose, and tread it 
with their feet — so long and so vigorously that the grain sepa- 
rates from the straw, and is very easily winnowed. After this, 
they pound it to reduce it to flour, or even, without pounding 
it, they boil it in water, and season it with fat. Cooked in 
this fashion, the wild oats have almost as dehcate a taste as 
rice has when no better seasoning is added. ^ 

I told these peoples of the Folle Avoine of my design to go 
and discover those remote nations, in order to teach them the 
mysteries of our holy reHgion. They were greatly surprised 
to hear it, and did their best to dissuade me. They repre- 
sented to me that I should meet nations who never show 
mercy to strangers, but break their heads without any cause ; 
and that war was kindled between various peoples who dwelt 
upon our route, which exposed us to the further manifest 
danger of being killed by the bands of warriors who are ever 
in the field. They also said that the great river was very 
dangerous, when one does not know the difficult places ; that 
it was full of horrible monsters, which devoured men and 
canoes together; that there was even a demon, who was 
heard from a great distance, who barred the way, and swal- 
lowed up all who ventured to approach him ; finally that the 
heat was so excessive in those countries that it would inevi- 
tably cause our death. 

I thanked them for the good advice that they gave me, 
but told them that I could not follow it, because the salva- 
tion of souls was at stake, for which I would be delighted to 
give my life; that I scoffed at the alleged demon; that we 
would easily defend ourselves against those marine monsters ; 
and, moreover, that we would be on our guard to avoid the 
other dangers with which they threatened us. After making 
them pray to God, and giving them some instruction, I sepa- 
rated from them. Embarking then in our canoes, we arrived 

^ Marquette's description of the wild rice (zizania aquatica) is very accur- 
ate. It formed an important article of food for Wisconsin tribesmen and is still 
harvested in inland lakes. See A. E. Jenks, "Wild Rice Gatherers of the Upper 
Lakes," in U. S. Bureau of Ethnology Report, XIX. 1072/. 



232 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 

shortly afterward at the bottom of the Bay des Puantz, where 
our Fathers labor successfully for the conversion of these 
peoples, over two thousand of whom they have baptized while 
they have been there. 

This bay bears a name which has a meaning not so offen- 
sive in the language of the savages ; for they call it la Baye 
Sallee^ rather than Bay des Puans, although with them this 
is almost the same and this is also the name which they give 
to the sea. This led us to make very careful researches to 
ascertain whether there were not some salt-water springs in 
this quarter, as there are among the Hiroquois, but we found 
none. We conclude, therefore, that this name has been given 
to it on account of the quantity of mire and mud which is 
seen there, whence noisome vapors constantly arise, causing 
the loudest and most continual thunder that I have ever heard. 

The bay is about thirty leagues in depth and eight in 
width at its mouth ; it narrows gradually to the bottom, where 
it is easy to observe a tide which has its regular ebb and flow, 
almost like that of the sea. This is not the place to inquire 
whether these are real tides; whether they are due to the 
wind, or to some other cause; whether there are winds, the 
precursors of the moon and attached to her suite, which con- 
sequently agitate the lake and give it an apparent ebb and 
flow whenever the moon ascends above the horizon. What I 
can positively state is, that, when the water is very calm, it 
is easy to observe it rising and falling according to the course 
of the moon; although I do not deny that this movement 
may be caused by very remote winds, which, pressing on the 
middle of the lake, cause the edges to rise and fall in the 
manner which is visible to our eyes.^ 

We left this bay to enter the river that discharges into it ; 
it is very beautiful at its mouth, and flows gently ; it is full of 
bustards, ducks, teal, and other birds, attracted thither by 
the wild oats, of which they are very fond. But, after ascend- 
ing the river a short distance, it becomes very difficult of 
passage, on account of both the currents and the sharp rocks, 
which cut the canoes and the feet of those who are obliged 

1 Salt Bay. 

2 This phenomenon was noted by many early travellers. The tides in 
the Great Lakes are small, but noticeable at certain points. 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 233 

to drag them, especially when the waters are low. Neverthe- 
less, we successfully passed those rapids ; and on approaching 
Machkoutens, the Fire Nation, I had the curiosity to drink 
the mineral waters of the river that is not far from that vil- 
lage.^ I also took time to look for a medicinal plant which 
a savage, who knows its secret, showed to Father Alloues 
with many ceremonies. Its root is employed to counteract 
snake-bites, God having been pleased to give this antidote 
against a poison which is very common in these countries. 
It is very pungent, and tastes like powder when crushed with 
the teeth; it must be masticated and placed upon the bite 
inflicted by the snake. The reptile has so great a horror of 
it that it even flees from a person who has rubbed himself 
with it. The plant bears several stalks, a foot high, with rather 
long leaves ; and a white flower, which greatly resembles the 
wallflower. 2 I put some in my canoe, in order to examine 
it at leisure while we continued to advance toward Maskou- 
tens, where we arrived on the 7th of June. 

Section 3. Description of the Village of Maskoutens; what 
passed there between the Father and the Savages. The 
French begin to enter a New and Unknown Country, and 
arrive at Missisipi. 

Here we are at Maskoutens.^ This word may, in Algon- 
quin, mean "the Fire Nation," which, indeed, is the name 
given to this tribe. Here is the limit of the discoveries which 
the French have made, for they have not yet gone any farther. 

This village consists of three nations who have gathered 
there — Miamis, Maskoutens, and ICikabous. The former are 
the most civil, the most liberal, and the most shapely. They 
wear two long locks over their ears, which give them a pleas- 
ing appearance. They are regarded as warriors, and rarely 

^ For the location of this spring and illustration of its present condition 
see Wis. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, 1906, p. 168. It was southeast of the present 
town of Berlin, in Green Lake County, Wisconsin. 

2 Sufficient indications are not given by Marquette to enable botanists to 
identify this plant, which may be one of several "snake roots" found in this 
vicinity. 

^ This village was located not far from the spring mentioned above. See 
Perrot's description, ante, pp. 84-88. 



^34 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 

undertake expeditions without being successful. They are 
very docile, and listen quietly to what is said to them ; and 
they appeared so eager to hear Father Alloues when he in- 
structed them that they gave him but little rest, even during 
the night. The Maskoutens and Kikabous are ruder, and 
seem peasants in comparison with the others. As bark for 
making cabins is scarce in this country, they use rushes; 
these serve them for making walls and roofs, but do not afford 
them much protection against the winds, and still less against 
the rains when they fall abundantly. The advantage of 
cabins of this kind is, that they make packages of them, and 
easily transport them wherever they wish, while they are 
hunting.^ 

When I visited them, I was greatly consoled at seeing a 
handsome Cross erected in the middle of the village, and 
adorned with many white skins, red belts, and bows and ar- 
rows, which these good people had offered to the great Man- 
itou (this is the name which they give to God) . They did this 
to thank him for having had pity on them during the winter, 
by giving them an abundance of game when they most dreaded 
famine.^ 

I took pleasure in observing the situation of this village. 
It is beautiful and very pleasing ; for, from an eminence upon 
which it is placed, one beholds on every side prairies, extend- 
ing farther than the eye can see, interspersed with groves or 
with lofty trees. The soil is very fertile, and yields much In- 
dian com. The savages gather quantities of plums and grapes, 
wherewith much wine could be made, if desired. 

No sooner had we arrived than we. Monsieur JoUyet and 
I, assembled the elders together; and he told them that he 
was sent by Monsieur our governor to discover new countries, 
while I was sent by God to illumine them with the light of 
the holy Gospel. He told them that, moreover, the sovereign 
Master of our lives wished to be known by all the nations; 
and that in obeying His will I feared not the death to which 

^ The rushes are woven into mats which are easily rolled up and transported. 

•This cross is supposed by some commentators to have been the symbol 
of a "Medicine" society among the Indians. It seems more natural to regard 
it as the sign of Allouez's mission, which the superstitious savages regarded as a 
"manitou." 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 235 

I exposed myself in voyages so perilous. He informed them 
that we needed two guides to show us the way ; and we gave 
them a present, by it asking them to grant us the guides. 
To this they very civilly consented; and they also spoke to 
us by means of a present, consisting of a mat to serve us as a 
bed during the whole of our voyage. 

On the following day, the tenth of June, two Miamis who 
were given us as guides embarked with us, in the sight of a 
great crowd, who could not sufficiently express their astonish- 
ment at the sight of seven Frenchmen, alone and in two 
canoes, daring to undertake so extraordinary and so hazard- 
ous an expedition. 

We knew that, at three leagues from Maskoutens, was a 
river which discharged into Missisipi.^ We knew also that 
the direction we were to follow in order to reach it was west- 
southwesterly. But the road is broken by so many swamps 
and small lakes that it is easy to lose one's way, especially as 
the river leading thither is so full of wild oats that it is diffi- 
cult to find the channel. For this reason we greatly needed 
our two guides, who safely conducted us to a portage of 2,700 
paces, and helped us to transport our canoes to enter that 
river; after which they returned home, leaving us alone in 
this unknown country, in the hands of Providence.^ 

Thus we left the waters flowing to Quebeq, four or five 
hundred leagues from here, to float on those that would 
thenceforward take us through strange lands. Before em- 
barking thereon, we began all together a new devotion to the 
blessed Virgin Immaculate, which we practised daily, address- 
ing to her special prayers to place under her protection both 
our persons and the success of our voyage ; and, after mutu- 
ally encouraging one another, we entered our canoes. 

The river on which we embarked is called Meskousing.* 
It is very wide ; it has a sandy bottom, which forms various 

* There is some mistake in the distance stated. Father Arthur E. Jones 
thinks it is intended for "three leagues from Maskoutens" River. See Wis. 
Hist. Soc. Proceedings, 1906, pp. 175-182. 

2 The Fox- Wisconsin portage at the site of Portage, Wisconsin, has now 
been cut by a government canal. In 1895 there was erected here on the old 
portage route a monument to Marquette. 

2 A variant for the name Wisconsin. 



236 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 

shoals that render its navigation very difficult. It is full of 
islands covered with vines. On the banks one sees fertile 
land, diversified with woods, prairies, and hills. There are 
oak, walnut, and basswood trees; and another kind, whose 
branches are armed with long thorns. We saw there neither 
feathered game nor fish, but many deer, and a large nimiber 
of cattle. Our route lay to the southwest, and, after navigat- 
ing about thirty leagues, we saw a spot presenting all the ap- 
pearances of an iron mine ; and, in fact, one of our party who 
had formerly seen such mines, assures us that the one which 
we found is very good and very rich. It is covered with three 
feet of good soil, and is quite near a chain of rocks, the base 
of which is covered by very fine trees. ^ After proceeding 
40 leagues on this same route, we arrived at the mouth of our 
river; and, at 42 and a half degrees of latitude, we safely 
entered Missisipi on the 17th of June, with a joy that I cannot 
express.^ 

Section 4. Of the Great River called Missisipi; its most notable 
Features; of various Animals, and especially the Pisikious 
or Wild Cattle, their Shape and Nature; of the First Vil- 
lages of the Ilinois, where the French arrived. 

Here we are, then, on this so renowned river, all of whose 
peculiar features I have endeavored to note carefully. The 
Missisipi River takes its rise in various lakes in the country 
of the northern nations. It is narrow at the place where 
Miskous empties ; its current, which flows southward, is slow 
and gentle. To the right is a large chain of very high moun- 
tains, and to the left are beautiful lands; in various places, 
the stream is divided by islands. On sounding, we foimd ten 
brasses of water. Its width is very unequal ; sometimes it is 
three-quarters of a league, and sometimes it narrows to three 
arpents.^ We gently followed its course, which runs toward 
the south and southeast, as far as the 42nd degree of latitude. 

^ The traces of a mine seen here were probably those of the lead mines of 
southwestern Wisconsin. 

"^ In 1910 a monument to Marquette was dedicated at Prairie du Chien, 
near the point where he entered the Mississippi. 

^ I. e., about 600 feet. 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 237 

Here we plainly saw that its aspect was completely changed. 
There are hardly any woods or mountains; the islands are 
more beautiful, and are covered with finer trees. We saw 
only deer and cattle, bustards, and swans without wings, 
because they drop their plumage in this country. From time 
to time, we came upon monstrous fish, one of which struck 
our canoe with such violence that I thought that it was a great 
tree, about to break the canoe to pieces. On another occasion, 
we saw on the water a monster with the head of a tiger, a 
sharp nose like that of a wildcat, with whiskers and straight, 
erect ears ; the head was gray and the neck quite black ; ^ 
but we saw no more creatures of this sort. When we cast 
our nets into the water we caught sturgeon, and a very ex- 
traordinary kind of fish. It resembles the trout, with this 
difference, that its mouth is larger. Near its nose, which is 
smaller, as are also the eyes, is a large bone shaped like a 
woman's busk, three fingers wide and a cubit long, at the end 
of which is a disk as wide as one's hand. This frequently 
causes it to fall backward when it leaps out of the water.^ 
When we reached the parallel of 41 degrees 28 minutes, fol- 
lowing the same direction, we found that turkeys had taken 
the place of game; and the pisikious, or wild cattle, that of 
the other animals.^ 

We call them "wild cattle," because they are very similar 
to our domestic cattle. They are not longer, but are nearly 
as large again, and more corpulent. When our people killed 
one, three persons had much difl&culty in moving it. The 
head is very large ; the forehead is flat, and a foot and half 
wide between the horns, which are exactly like those of our 
oxen, but black and much larger. Under the neck they have 
a sort of large dewlap, which hangs down ; and on the back 
is a rather high hump. The whole of the head, the neck, and 
^a portion of the shoulders, are covered with a thick mane like 

* The first monster was a catfish (silurus Mississippiensis), which grows to 
great size in western rivers; the second a wildcat, called by the Canadians 
pichou du svd. 

* This has been identified as the polyodon spatula, a very rare Mississippi 
River fish, called by the French inhabitants le spatule. 

' The buffalo or American bison. Marquette has drawn a picture of one 
of these animals on his map. See article cited in note 2 on p. 229, ante. 



238 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 

that of horses; it forms a crest a foot long, which makes 
them hideous, and, faUing over their eyes, prevents them from 
seeing what is before them. The remainder of the body is 
covered with a heavy coat of curly hair, almost hke that of 
our sheep, but much stronger and thicker. It falls off in 
summer, and the skin becomes as soft as velvet. At that 
season, the savages use the hides for making fine robes, which 
they paint in various colors. The flesh and the fat of the 
pisikious are excellent, and constitute the best dish at feasts. 
Moreover, they are very fierce ; and not a year passes without 
their killing some savages. When attacked, they catch a 
man on their horns, if they can, toss him in the air, and then 
throw him on the ground, after which they trample him under 
foot, and kill him. If a person fire at them from a distance, 
with either a bow or a gun, he must, immediately after the 
shot, throw himself down and hide in the grass; for if they 
perceive him who has fired, they run at him, and attack him. 
As their legs are thick and rather short, they do not run very 
fast, as a rule, except when angry. They are scattered about 
the prairie in herds ; I have seen one of four hundred. 

We continued to advance, but, as we knew not whither we 
were going, for we had proceeded over one hundred leagues 
without discovering anything except animals and birds, we 
kept well on our guard. On this account, we make only a 
small fire on land, toward evening, to cook our meals ; and, 
after supper, we remove ourselves as far from it as possible, 
and pass the night in our canoes, which we anchor in the river 
at some distance from the shore. This does not prevent us 
from always posting one of the party as a sentinel, for fear of 
a surprise. Proceeding still in a southerly and south-south- 
westerly direction, we find ourselves at the parallel of 41 
degrees, and as low as 40 degrees and some minutes, — partly 
southeast and partly southwest, — after having advanced over 
60 leagues since we entered the river, without discovering 
anything. 

Finally, on the 25th of June, we perceived on the water's 
edge some tracks of men, and a narrow and somewhat beaten 
path leading to a fine prairie. We stopped to examine it; 
and, thinking that it was a road which led to some village of 
savages, we resolved to go and reconnoitre it. We therefore 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 239 

left our two canoes under the guard of our people, strictly 
charging them not to allow themselves to be surprised, after 
which Monsieur JoUyet and I undertook this investigation — 
a rather hazardous one for two men who exposed themselves, 
alone, to the mercy of a barbarous and unknown people. We 
silently followed the narrow path, and, after walking about 
two leagues, we discovered a village on the bank of a river, 
and two others on a hill distant about half a league from the 
first. ^ Then we heartily commended ourselves to God, and, 
after imploring His aid, we went farther without being per- 
ceived, and approached so near that we could even hear the 
savages talking. We therefore decided that it was time to 
reveal ourselves. This we did by shouting with all our energy, 
and stopped, without advancing any farther. On hearing 
the shout, the savages quickly issued from their cabins, and 
having probably recognized us as Frenchmen, especially when 
they saw a black gown — or, at least, having no cause for dis- 
trust, as we were only two men, and had given them notice 
of our arrival — they deputed four old men to come and 
speak to us. Two of these bore tobacco-pipes, finely orna- 
mented and adorned with various feathers. They walked 
slowly, and raised their pipes toward the sun, seemingly offer- 
ing them to it to smoke, without, however, saying a word. 
They spent a rather long time in covering the short distance 
between their village and us. Finally, when they had drawn 
near, they stopped to consider us attentively. I was reassured 
when I observed these ceremonies, which with them are per- 
formed only among friends; and much more so when I saw 
them clad in cloth, for I judged thereby that they were our 
allies. I therefore spoke to them first, and asked them who 
they were. They replied that they were Ilinois; and, as a 
token of peace, they offered us their pipes to smoke. They 
afterward invited us to enter their village, where all the people 
impatiently awaited us. These pipes for smoking tobacco 
are called in this country calumets. This word has come so 
much into use that, in order to be understood, I shall be ob- 
liged to use it, as I shall often have to mention these pipes. 

*The site of these villages has not been definitely determined. It was 
formerly supposed that they were on Des Moines River ; some Iowa archaeolo- 
gists, however, locate them on the river of that name. 



240 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 



Section 5. How the Ilinois received the Father in their Village. 

At the door of the cabin in which we were to be received 
was an old man, who awaited us in a rather surprising atti- 
tude, which constitutes a part of the ceremonial that they 
observe when they receive strangers. This man stood erect, 
and stark naked, with his hands extended and lifted toward 
the sun, as if he wished to protect himself from its rays, which 
nevertheless shone upon his face through his fingers. When 
we came near him, he paid us this compliment : "How beauti- 
ful the sun is, Frenchman, when thou comest to visit us! 
All our village awaits thee, and thou shalt enter all our cabins 
in peace." Having said this, he made us enter his own, in 
which were a crowd of people ; they devoured us with their 
eyes, but, nevertheless, observed profound silence. We 
could, however, hear these words, which were addressed to us 
from time to time in a low voice : " How good it is, my brothers, 
that you should visit us." 

After we had taken our places, the usual civility of the 
country was paid to us, which consisted in offering us the 
calumet. This must not be refused, unless one wishes to be 
considered an enemy, or at least uncivil ; it suffices that one 
make a pretense of smoking. While all the elders smoked 
after us, in order to do us honor, we received an invitation on 
behalf of the great captain of all the Ilinois to proceed to his 
village where he wished to hold a council with us. We went 
thither in a large company, for all these people, who had 
never seen any Frenchmen among them, could not cease 
looking at us. They lay on the grass along the road; they 
preceded us, and then retraced their steps to come and see 
us again. All this was done noiselessly, and with marks of 
great respect for us. 

When we reached the village of the great captain, we saw 
him at the entrance of his cabin, between two old men, all 
three erect and naked, and holding their calumet turned 
toward the sun. He harangued us in a few words, congratu- 
lating us upon our arrival. He afterward offered us his calu- 
met, and made us smoke while we entered his cabin, where 
we received all their usual kind attentions. 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 241 

Seeing all assembled and silent, I spoke to them by four 
presents that I gave them. By the first, I told them that we 
were journeying peacefully to visit the nations dwelling on 
the river as far as the sea. By the second, I announced to 
them that God, who had created them, had pity on them, 
inasmuch as, after they had so long been ignorant of Him, He 
wished to make himself known to all the peoples ; that I was 
sent by Him for that purpose; and that it was for them to 
acknowledge and obey Him. By the third, I said that the 
great captaiu of the French informed them that he it was who 
restored peace everywhere; and that he had subdued the 
Iroquois. Finally, by the fourth, we begged them to give us 
all the information that they had about the sea, and about 
the nations through whom we must pass to reach it. 

When I had finished my speech, the captain arose, and, 
resting his hand upon the head of a little slave ^ whom he 
wished to give us, he spoke thus : "I thank thee, black gown, 
and thee, Frenchman," addressing himself to Monsieur Jol- 
lyet, "for having taken so much trouble to come to visit us. 
Never has the earth been so beautiful, or the sun so bright, as 
to-day ; never has our river been so calm, or so clear of rocks, 
which your canoes have removed in passing; never has our 
tobacco tasted so good, or our com appeared so fine, as we now 
see them. Here is my son, whom I give thee to show thee my 
heart. I beg thee to have pity on me, and on all my nation. 
It is thou who knowest the great Spirit who has made us all. 
It is thou who speakest to Him, and who hearest His word. 
Beg Him to give me life and health, and to come and dwell 
with us, in order to make us know Him." Having said this, 
he placed the little slave near us, and gave us a second present, 
consisting of an altogether mysterious calumet, upon which 
they place more value than upon a slave. By this gift, he ex- 
pressed to us the esteem that he had for Monsieur our governor, 
from the account which we had given of him ; and, by a third, 
he begged us on behalf of all his nation not to go farther, on 
account of the great dangers to which we exposed ourselves. 

^ Slavery among North American Indians arose from the treatment of 
captives taken in war. The position of slaves was not as a rule seriously different 
from that of other members of the tribe, except that they could be disposed of 
by their masters at will. 



242 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 

I replied that I feared not death, and that I regarded no 
happiness as greater than that of losing my life for the glory 
of Him who has made all. This is what these poor people 
cannot understand. 

The council was followed by a great feast, consisting of 
four dishes, which had to be partaken of in accordance with 
all their fashions. The first course was a great wooden platter 
full of sagamite, that is to say, meal of Indian com boiled in 
water, and seasoned with fat. The master of ceremonies 
filled a spoon with sagamite three or four times, and put it to 
my mouth as if I were a little child. He did the same to 
Monsieur Jolly et. As a second course, he caused a second 
platter to be brought, on which were three fish. He took 
some pieces of them, removed the bones therefrom, and, after 
blowing upon them to cool them, he put them in our mouths 
as one would give food to a bird. For the third course, they 
brought a large dog, that had just been killed; but, when 
they learned that we did not eat this meat, they removed it 
from before us. Finally, the fourth course was a piece of 
wild ox, the fattest morsels of which were placed in our mouths. 

After this feast, we had to go to visit the whole village, 
which consists of fully three hundred cabins. While we 
walked through the streets, an orator continually harangued 
to oblige all the people to come to see us without annoying 
us. Everywhere we were presented with belts, garters, and 
other articles made of the hair of bears and cattle, dyed red, 
yellow, and gray. These are all the rarities they possess. 
As they are of no great value, we did not burden ourselves 
with them. 

We slept in the captain's cabin, and on the following day 
we took leave of him, promising to pass again by his village, 
within four moons. He conducted us to our canoes, with 
nearly six hundred persons who witnessed our embarkation, 
giving us every possible manifestation of the joy that our 
visit had caused them. For my own part, I promised, on 
bidding them adieu, that I would come the following year, 
and reside with them to instruct them. But, before quitting 
the Ilinois country, it is proper that I should relate what I 
observed of their customs and usages. 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 243 



Section 6. Of the Character of the Ilinois; of their Habits and 
Customs; and of the Esteem that they have for the Calumet, 
or Tobacco-pipe, and of the Dance they perform in its Honor. 

When one speaks the word "Ilinois/' it is as if one said in 
their language, "the men," as if the other savages were looked 
upon by them merely as animals. It must also be admitted 
that they have an air of humanity which we have not ob- 
served in the other nations that we have seen upon our route. 
The shortness of my stay among them did not allow me to 
secure aU the information that I would have desired ; among 
all their customs, the following is what I have observed. 

They are divided into many villages, some of wliich are 
quite distant from that of which we speak, which is called 
Peouarea.^ This causes some difference in their language, 
which, on the whole, resembles Allegonquin, so that we easily 
understood each other. They are of a gentle and tractable 
disposition ; we experienced this in the reception which they 
gave us. They have several wives, of whom they are ex- 
tremely jealous; they watch them very closely, and cut off 
their noses or ears when they misbehave. I saw several 
women who bore the marks of their misconduct. Their 
bodies are shapely; they are active and very skillful with 
bows and arrows. They also use guns, which they buy from 
our savage allies who trade with our French. They use them 
especially to inspire, through their noise and smoke, terror in 
their enemies; the latter do not use guns, and have never 
seen any, since they live too far toward the west. They are 
warlike, and make themselves dreaded by the distant tribes 
to the south and west, whither they go to procure slaves; 
these they barter, selling them at a high price to other nations, 
in exchange for other wares. Those very distant savages 
against whom they war have no knowledge of Europeans; 
neither do they know an)^tlling of iron, or of copper, and they 
have only stone knives. When the Ilinois depart to go to 
war, the whole village must be notified by a loud shout, which 
is uttered at the doors of their cabins, the night and the 

^ The Peoria were a branch of the Illinois whose later home was on the 
Illinois River near the lake of their name. 



244 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 

moming before their departure. The captams are distinguished 
from the warriors by wearing red scarfs. These are made, 
with considerable skill, from the hair of bears and wild cattle. 
They paint their faces with red ochre, great quantities of which 
are foimd at a distance of some days' journey from the village. 
They live by hunting, game being plentiful in that country, 
and on Indian corn, of which they always have a good crop ; 
consequently, they have never suffered from famine. They 
also sow beans and melons, which are excellent, especially 
those that have red seeds. Their squashes are not of the best ; 
they dry them in the sun, to eat them during the winter and 
the spring. Their cabins are very large, and are roofed and 
floored with mats made of rushes. They make all their 
utensils of wood, and their ladles out of the heads of cattle, 
whose skulls they know so well how to prepare that they use 
these ladles with ease for eating their sagamit^. 

They are liberal in cases of illness, and think that the effect 
of the medicines administered to them is in proportion to the 
presents given to the physician. Their garments consist only 
of skins ; the women are always clad very modestly and very 
becomingly, while the men do not take the trouble to cover 
themselves. I know not through what superstition some 
Ilinois, as well as some Nadouessi, while still young, assume 
the garb of women, and retain it throughout their lives. 
There is some mystery in this, for they never marry and glory 
in demeaning themselves to do everything that the women do. 
They go to war, however, but can use only clubs, and not 
bows and arrows, which are the weapons proper to men. 
They are present at all the juggleries, and at the solemn dances 
in honor of the calumet; at these they sing, but must not 
dance. They are summoned to the councils, and nothing can 
be decided without their advice. Finally, through their pro- 
fession of leading an extraordinary life, they pass for Manitous, 
that is to say, for spirits, or persons of consequence.^ 

There remains no more, except to speak of the calumet. 
There is nothing more mysterious or more respected among 
them. Less honor is paid to the crowns and sceptres of kings 
than the savages bestow upon this. It seems to be the god 

* These persons were known as "berdashes," their condition had some re- 
ligious significance, and they received certain especial honors. 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 245 

of peace and of war, the arbiter of life and of death. It has 
but to be carried upon one's person, and displayed, to enable 
one to walk safely through the midst of enemies, who, in the 
hottest of the fight, lay down their arms when it is shown. 
For that reason, the Ilinois gave me one, to serve as a safe- 
guard among all the nations through whom I had to pass 
during my voyage. There is a calimiet for peace, and one for 
war, which are distinguished solely by the color of the feathers 
with which they are adorned; red is a sign of war. They 
also use it to put an end to their disputes, to strengthen their 
alliances, and to speak to strangers. It is fashioned from a 
red stone, polished like marble,^ and bored in such a manner 
that one end serves as a receptacle for the tobacco, while the 
other fits into the stem ; this is a stick two feet long, as thick 
as an ordinary cane, and bored through the middle. It is 
ornamented with the heads and necks of various birds, whose 
plimiage is very beautiful. To these they also add large 
feathers — red, green, and other colors — wherewith the whole 
is adorned. They have a great regard for it, because they 
look upon it as the calumet of the Sun; and, in fact, they 
offer it to the latter to smoke when they wish to obtain a calm, 
or rain, or fine weather. They scruple to bathe themselves 
at the beginning of summer, or to eat fresh fruit, until after 
they have performed the dance, which they do as follows : 

The calumet dance, which is very famous among these 
peoples, is performed solely for important reasons; some- 
times to strengthen peace, or to unite themselves for some 
great war; at other times, for public rejoicing. Sometimes 
they thus do honor to a nation who are invited to be present ; 
sometimes it is danced at the reception of some important 
personage, as if they wished to give him the diversion of a 
ball or a comedy. In winter, the ceremony takes place in a 
cabin; in summer, in the open fields. When the spot is se- 
lected, it is completely surrounded by trees, so that all may 
sit in the shade afforded by their leaves, in order to be pro- 
tected from the heat of the sun. A large mat of rushes, painted 

^ This peculiar red pipestone is now known as "catlinite" in honor of George 
Catlin, who was said to be the first white person to visit (in 1836) the sacred 
quarry in the present Pipestone County in southwest Minnesota. See his 
North American Indians, II. 164-177. 



246 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 

in various colors, is spread in the middle of the place, and 
serves as a carpet upon which to place with honor the god of 
the person who gives the dance; for each has his own god, 
which they call their Manitou. This is a serpent, a bird, or 
other similar thing, of which they have dreamed while sleep- 
ing, and in which they place all their confidence for the suc- 
cess of their war, their fishing, and their hunting. Near this 
Manitou, and at its right, is placed the calumet in honor of 
which the feast is given ; and all around it a sort of trophy is 
made, and the weapons used by the warriors of those nations 
are spread, namely : clubs, war-hatchets, bows, quivers, and 
arrows. 

Everything being thus arranged, and the hour of the 
dance drawing near, those who have been appointed to sing 
take the most honorable place under the branches; these 
are the men and women who are gifted with the best voices, 
and who sing together in perfect harmony. Afterward, all 
come to take their seats in a circle under the branches ; but 
each one, on arriving, must salute the Manitou. This he 
does by inhaling the smoke, and blowing it from his mouth 
upon the Manitou, as if he were offering to it incense. Every- 
one, at the outset, takes the calumet in a respectful manner, 
and, supporting it with both hands, causes it to dance in 
cadence, keeping good time with the air of the songs. He 
makes it execute many differing figures ; sometimes he shows 
it to the whole assembly, turning himself from one side to 
the other. After that, he who is to begin the dance appears 
in the middle of the assembly, and at once continues this. 
Sometimes he offers it to the sun, as if he wished the latter 
to smoke it ; sometimes he inclines it toward the earth ; again, 
he makes it spread its wings, as if about to fly ; at other times, 
he puts it near the mouths of those present, that they may 
smoke. The whole is done in cadence ; and this is, as it were, 
the first scene of the ballet. 

The second consists of a combat carried on to the sound of 
a kind of drum, which succeeds the songs, or even unites 
with them, harmonizing very well together. The dancer 
makes a sign to some warrior to come to take the arms which 
lie upon the mat, and invites him to fight to the sound of the 
drums. The latter approaches, takes up the bow and ar- 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 247 

rows, and the war-hatchet, and begins the duel with the other, 
whose sole defense is the calumet. This spectacle is very- 
pleasing, especially as all is done in cadence ; for one attacks, 
the other defends himself ; one strikes blows, the other parries 
them; one takes to flight, the other pursues; and then he 
who was fleeing faces about, and causes his adversary to flee. 
This is done so well, with slow and measured steps, and to 
the rhythmic sound of the voices and drums, that it might 
pass for a very fine opening of a ballet in France. The third 
scene consists of a lofty discourse, delivered by him who holds 
the calumet; for, when the combat is ended without blood- 
shed, he recounts the battles at which he has been present, 
the victories that he has won, the names of the nations, the 
places, and the captives whom he has made. And, to reward 
him, he who presides at the dance makes him a present of a 
fine robe of beaver-skins, or some other article. Then, having 
received it, he hands the calumet to another, the latter to a 
third, and so on with all the others, imtil every one has done 
his duty; then the president presents the calimiet itself to 
the nation that has been invited to the ceremony, as a token 
of the everlasting peace that is to exist between the two 
peoples. 

Here is one of the songs that they are in the habit of sing- 
ing. They give it a certain turn which cannot be sufiiciently 
expressed by note, but which nevertheless constitutes all its 
grace. 

Ninahani, ninahani, ninahani, nani ongo} 

Section 7. Departure of the Father from the Ilinois; of the 
Painted Monsters which he saw upon the Great River Mis- 
sisipi; of the River Pekitanoui. Continuation of the 
Voyage. 

We take leave of our Ilinois at the end of June, about 
three o'clock in the afternoon. We embark in the sight of 
all the people, who admire our little canoes, for they have 
never seen any like them. 

We descend, following the current of the river called 

*The music for this chant is published in Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, 
LIX. 311. 



248 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 

Pekitanoui, which discharges into the Mississipy, flowing 
from the northwest. I shall have something important to 
say about it, when I shall have related all that I observed 
along this river. ^ 

While passing near the rather high rocks that line the 
river, I noticed a simple which seemed to me very extraor- 
dinary. The root is like small turnips fastened together by lit- 
tle filaments, which taste like carrots. From this root springs 
a leaf as wide as one's hand, and half a finger thick, with spots. 
From the middle of this leaf spring other leaves, resembling 
the sconces used for candles in our halls ; and each leaf bears 
five or six yellow flowers shaped like little bells. 

We found quantities of mulberries, as large as those of 
France; and a small fruit which we at first took for olives, 
but which tasted like oranges; and another fruit as large as 
a hen's egg. We cut it in halves, and two divisions appeared, 
in each of which eight to ten fruits were encased; these are 
shaped like almonds, and are very good when ripe. Never- 
theless, the tree that bears them has a very bad odor, and its 
leaves resemble those of the walnut-tree. In these prairies 
there is also a fruit similar to hazelnuts, but more dehcate; 
the leaves are very large, and grow from a stalk at the end 
of which is a head similar to that of a sunflower, in which all 
its nuts are regularly arranged. These are very good, both 
cooked and raw.^ 

While skirting some rocks, which by their height and 
length inspired awe, we saw upon one of them two painted 
monsters which at first made us afraid, and upon which the 
boldest savages dare not long rest their eyes. They are as 
large as a calf ; they have horns on their heads like those of 
deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard like a tiger's, a face 
somewhat like a man's, a body covered with scales, and so 
long a tail that it winds all around the body, passing above 
the head and going back between the legs, ending in a fish's 
tail. Green, red, and black are the three colors composing 

*The Missouri River takes its present name from an Indian tribe that 
formerly dwelt upon its banks. The word by which Marquette knew it was an 
Indian word for "Muddy." 

^ These fruits have been identified respectively as the cactus or prickly 
pear, the persimmon, and the chincapin. 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 249 

the picture. Moreover, these two monsters are so well painted 
that we cannot believe that any savage is their author; for 
good painters in France would find it difficult to paint so 
well, and besides, they are so high up on the rock that it is 
difficult to reach that place conveniently to paint them. Here 
is approximately the shape of these monsters, as we have 
faithfully copied it.^ 

While conversing about these monsters, sailing quietly in 
clear and calm water, we heard the noise of a rapid, into which 
we were about to run. I have seen nothing more dreadful. 
An accumulation of large and entire trees, branches, and 
floating islands, was issuing from the mouth of the river 
Pekistanoui, with such impetuosity that we could not without 
great danger risk passing through it. So great was the agita- 
tion that the water was very muddy, and could not become 
clear. 

Pekitanoui is a river of considerable size, coming from the 
northwest, from a great distance; and it discharges into the 
Missisipi. There are many villages of savages along this 
river, and I hope by its means to discover the Vermillion or 
California Sea. 

Judging from the direction of the course of the Missisipi, 
if it continue the same way, we think that it discharges into 
the Mexican Gulf. It would be a great advantage to find the 
river leading to the Southern Sea, toward California; and, 
as I have said, this is what I hope to do by means of the 
Pekitanoui, according to the reports made to me by the 
savages. From them I have learned that, by ascending this 
river for five or six days, one reaches a fine prairie, twenty 
or thirty leagues long. This must be crossed in a north- 
westerly direction, and it terminates at another small river, 
on which one may embark, for it is not very difficult to trans- 
port canoes through so fine a country as that prairie. This 
second river flows toward the southwest for ten or fifteen 
leagues, after which it enters a lake, small and deep, which 

^ These pictographs on a rock near Alton, Illinois, were called "piasa," 
and supposed to represent the "thunder bird." They were quite distinct when 
described by Stoddard in 1803 ; when visited in 1838 only one could be seen, of 
which traces were discernible as late as 1848, soon after which the rock was 
quarried down. 



250 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 

flows toward the west, where it falls into the sea. I have 
hardly any doubt that it is the Vermillion Sea, and I do not 
despair of discovering it some day, if God grant me the grace 
and the health to do so, in order that I may preach the Gospel 
to all the peoples of this new world who have so long grovelled 
in the darkness of infidelity. 

Let us resume our route, after escaping as best we could 
from the dangerous rapid caused by the obstruction which I 
have mentioned. 

Section 8. Of the New Countries discovered by the Father. 
Various Particulars. Meeting with some Savages. First 
News of the Sea and of Europeans. Great Danger avoided 
by means of the Calumet. 

After proceeding about twenty leagues straight to the 
south, and a little less to the southeast, we found ourselves 
at a river called Ouaboukigou,^ the mouth of which is at 
the 36th degree of latitude. Before reaching it, we passed by 
a place that is dreaded by the savages, because they believe 
that a manitou is there, that is to say, a demon, that devours 
travellers ; and the savages, who wished to divert us from our 
undertaking, warned us against it. This is the demon: there 
is a small cove, surrounded by rocks twenty feet high, into 
which the whole current of the river rushes ; and, being pushed 
back against the waters following it, and checked by an 
island near by, the current is compelled to pass through a 
narrow channel. This is not done without a violent struggle 
between all these waters, which force one another back, or 
without a great din, which inspires terror in the savages, who 
fear everything. But this did not prevent us from passing, 
and arriving at Waboukigou. This river flows from the lands 
of the East, where dwell the people called Chaouanons in so 
great numbers that in one district there are as many as twenty- 
three villages, and fifteen in another, quite near one another. 
They are not at all warlike, and are the nations whom the 
Iroquois go so far to seek, and war against without any rea- 
son; and, because these poor people cannot defend them- 

^ The present Ohio River was usually known as the Wabash (Ouaboukigou) 
below its confluence with the latter stream. 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 251 

selveS; they allow themselves to be captured and taken like 
flocks of sheep ; and, innocent though they are, they never- 
theless sometimes experience the barbarity of the Iroquois, who 
cruelly bum them. 

A short distance above the river of which I have just 
spoken are cliffs, on which our Frenchmen noticed an iron 
mine, which they consider very rich. There are several veins 
of ore, and a bed a foot thick, and one sees large masses of it 
united with pebbles. A sticky earth is found there, of three 
different colors — purple, violet, and red. The water in which 
the latter is washed assumes a bloody tinge. There is also 
very heavy, red sand. I placed some on a paddle, which was 
dyed with its color, so deeply that the water could not wash 
it away during the fifteen days while I used it for paddling. 

Here we began to see canes, or large reeds, which grow on 
the bank of the river ; their color is a very pleasing green ; 
all the nodes are marked by a crown of long, narrow, and 
pointed leaves. They are very high, and grow so thickly 
that the wild cattle have some difficulty in forcing their way 
through them. 

Hitherto, we had not suffered any inconvenience from 
mosquitoes ; but we were entering into their home, as it were. 
This is what the savages of this quarter do to protect them- 
selves against them. They erect a scaffolding, the floor of 
which consists only of poles, so that it is open to the air in 
order that the smoke of the fire made imdemeath may pass 
through, and drive away those little creatures, which cannot 
endure it; the savages lie down upon the poles, over which 
bark is spread to keep off rain. These scaffoldings also serve 
them as protection against the excessive and unbearable heat 
of this country ; for they lie in the shade, on the floor below, 
and thus protect themselves against the sun's rays, enjoying 
the cool breeze that circulates freely through the scaffolding. 

With the same object, we were compelled to erect a sort 
of cabin on the water, with our sails as a protection against 
the mosquitoes and the rays of the sun. While drifting down 
with the current, in this condition, we perceived on land some 
savages armed with guns, who awaited us. I at once offered 
them my plumed calumet, while our Frenchmen prepared 
for defense, but delayed firing, that the savages might be the 



252 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 

first to discharge their guns. I spoke to them in Huron, but 
they answered me by a word which seemed to me a declara- 
tion of war against us. However, they were as frightened as 
we were; and what we took for a signal for battle was an 
invitation that they gave us to draw near, that they might 
give us food. We therefore landed, and entered their cabins, 
where they offered us meat from wild cattle and bear's grease, 
with white plums, which are very good. They have guns, 
hatchets, hoes, knives, beads, and flasks of double glass, in 
which they put their powder. They wear their hair long, and 
tattoo their bodies after the Hiroquois fashion. The women 
wear head-dresses and garments like those of the Huron 
women. They assured us that we were no more than ten 
days' journey from the sea; that they bought cloth and all 
other goods from the Europeans who lived to the east; that 
these Europeans had rosaries and pictures ; that they played 
upon instruments ; that some of them looked like me, and had 
been received by these savages kindly. Nevertheless, I saw 
none who seemed to have received any instruction in the 
faith ; I gave them as much as I could, with some medals.^ 

This news animated our courage, and made us paddle 
with fresh ardor. We thus push forward, and no longer see 
so many prairies, because both shores of the river are bor- 
dered with lofty trees. The cottonwood, elm, and basswood 
trees there are admirable for their height and thickness. The 
great numbers of wild cattle, which we heard bellowing, led 
us to believe that the prairies are near. We also saw quail 
on the water's edge. We killed a little parroquet, one half 
of whose head was red, the other half and the neck yellow, 
and the whole body green.^ We had gone down to near the 
33rd degree of latitude having proceeded nearly all the time 
in a southerly direction, when we perceived a village on the 
water's edge called Mitchigamea.^ We had recourse to our 

^ The explorers were now in the Chickasaw country ; but the similarity of 
this band with the Iroquois, their language and customs, would indicate that they 
were either Tuscarora or Cherokee — both tribes of Iroquoian origin. 

2 A small species of paroquet was very abundant in the Mississippi and 
Ohio valleys in early days. 

^ The Michigamea Indians were of Algonquian origin, allied to the Illinois, 
from whom they were temporarily separated. Their habitat was probably above 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 253 

patroness and guide, the blessed Virgin Immaculate ; and we 
greatly needed her assistance, for we heard from afar the 
savages who were inciting one another to the fray by their 
continual yells. They were armed with bows, arrows, hatchets, 
clubs, and shields. They prepared to attack us, on both land 
and water; part of them embarked in great wooden canoes, 
some to ascend, others to descend the river, in order to inter- 
cept us and surround us on all sides. Those who were on land 
came and went, as if to commence the attack. In fact, some 
young men threw themselves into the water, to come and 
seize my canoe; but the current compelled them to return 
to land. One of them then hurled his club, which passed over 
without striking us. In vain I showed the calumet, and 
made them signs that we were not coming to war against 
them. The alarm continued, and they were already preparing 
to pierce us with arrows from all sides, when God suddenly 
touched the hearts of the old men, who were standing at the 
water's edge. This no doubt happened through the sight of 
our calumet, which they had not clearly distinguished from 
afar ; but as I did not cease displaying it, they were influenced 
by it, and checked the ardor of their young men. Two of 
these elders even, after casting into our canoe, as if at our feet, 
their bows and quivers, to reassure us, entered the canoe, and 
made us approach the shore, whereon we landed, not without 
fear on our part. At first, we had to speak by signs, because 
none of them understood the six languages which I spoke. 
At last, we found an old man who could speak a little 
Ilinois. 

We informed them, by our presents, that we were going 
to the sea. They vmderstood very well what we wished to 
say to them, but I know not whether they apprehended what 
I told them about God, and about matters pertaining to their 
salvation. This is a seed cast into the ground, which will 
bear fruit in its time. We obtained no other answer than 
that we should learn all that we desired at another large vil- 
lage, called Akamsea, which was only eight or ten leagues 

St. Francis River, in the neighborhood of the present Big Lake that takes its 
name from this tribe — Michigame, or Big Lake. About the end of the seven- 
teenth century the Michigamea were driven north and coalesced with the Kas- 
kaskia branch of the Illinois. 



254 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 

lower down.^ They offered us sagamite and fish, and we 
passed the night among them, with some anxiety. 

Section 9. Reception given to the French in the Last Village 
which they saw. The Manners and Customs of those Sav- 
ages. Reasons for not going farther. 

We embarked early on the following day, with our inter- 
preter; a canoe containing ten savages went a short distance 
ahead of us. When we arrived within half a league of the 
Akamsea, we saw two canoes coming to meet us. He who 
commanded stood upright, holding in his hand the calumet, 
with which he made various signs, according to the custom 
of the country. He joined us, singing very agreeably, and 
gave us tobacco to smoke ; after that, he offered us sagamite, 
and bread made of Indian com, of which we ate a little. He 
then preceded us, after making us a sign to follow him slowly. 
A place had been prepared for us under the scaffolding of the 
chief of the warriors; it was clean, and carpeted with fine 
rush mats. Upon these we were made to sit, having around 
us the elders, who were nearest to us; after them, the war- 
riors; and, finally, all the common people in a crowd. We 
fortunately found there a young man who understood Ilinois 
much better than did the interpreter whom we had brought 
from Mitchigamea. Through him, I spoke at first to the whole 
assembly by the usual presents. They admired what I said 
to them about God and the mysteries of our holy Faith. 
They manifested a great desire to retain me among them, 
that I might instruct them. 

We afterward asked them what they knew about the sea. 
They replied that we were only ten days' journey from it — 
we could have covered the distance in five days; that they 
were not acquainted with the nations who dwelt there, be- 
cause their enemies prevented them from trading with those 
Europeans ; that the hatchets, knives, and beads that we saw 

1 Akamsea was a village of the Quapaw tribe, of the great Siouan stock, 
allied to the tribes of the Missouri and upper Mississippi regions. The name 
Akamsea means "down-stream people" and their early habitat is supposed to 
have been on the Ohio. The village visited by Marquette appears to have been 
above the Arkansas River, near the site where De Soto died in 1541. 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 255 

were sold to them partly by nations from the East, and partly 
by an Ilinois village situated at four days' journey from their 
village westward. They also told us that the savages with 
gims whom we had met were their enemies, who barred their 
way to the sea, and prevented them from becoming acquainted 
with the Europeans, and from carrying on any trade with 
them ; that, moreover, we exposed ourselves to great dangers 
by going farther, on account of the continual forays of their 
enemies along the river, because, as they had guns and were 
very warlike, we could not without manifest danger proceed 
down the river, which they constantly occupy. 

Duiing this conversation, food was continually brought 
to us in large wooden platters, consisting sometimes of saga- 
mite, sometimes of whole corn, sometimes of a piece of dog's 
flesh. The entire day was spent in feasting. These people 
are very obliging and liberal with what they have ; but they 
are wretchedly provided with food, for they dare not go and 
hunt wild cattle, on account of their enemies. It is true that 
they have an abundance of Indian corn, which they sow at 
all seasons. We saw at the same time some that was ripe, 
some other that had only sprouted, and some again in the 
milk, so that they sow it three times a year. They cook it 
in great earthen jars, which are very well made. They have 
also plates of baked earth which they use in various ways. 
The men go naked, and wear their hair short; they pierce 
their noses, from which, as well as from their ears, hang beads. 
The women are clad in wretched skins ; they knot their hair 
in two tresses which they throw behind their ears, and have 
no ornaments with which to adorn themselves. Their feasts 
are given without any ceremony. They offer the guests 
large dishes, from which all eat at discretion and offer what is 
left to one another. Their language is exceedingly difficult, 
and I could succeed in pronouncing only a few words notwith- 
standing all my efforts. Their cabins, which are made of bark, 
are long and wide; they sleep at the two ends, which are 
raised two feet above the groimd. They keep their com in 
large baskets made of canes, or in gourds as large as half- 
barrels. They know nothing of the beaver. Their wealth 
consists in the skins of wild cattle. They never see snow in 
their country, and recognize the winter only through the 



256 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1673 

rains, which there fall more frequently than in summer. We 
ate no other fruit there than watermelons. If they knew how 
to till their soil, they would have fruits of all kinds. 

In the evening, the elders held a secret council, in regard 
to the design entertained by some to break our heads and rob 
us ; but the chief put a stop to all these plots. After sending 
for us, he danced the calumet before us, in the manner I have 
already described, as a token of our entire safety; and, to 
relieve us of all fear, he made me a present of it. 

Monsieur Jolliet and I held another council, to deliberate 
upon what we should do — whether we should push on, or re- 
main content with the discovery which we had made. After 
attentively considering that we were not far from the Gulf of 
Mexico, the basin of which is at the latitude of 31 degrees 60 
minutes, while we were at 33 degrees 40 minutes, we judged 
that we could not be more than two or three days' journey 
from it; and that, beyond a doubt, the Missisipi River dis- 
charges into the Florida or Mexican Gulf, and not to the east 
in Virginia, whose sea-coast is at 34 degrees latitude, — ^which 
we had passed, without, however, having as yet reached the 
sea, — or to the west in California, because in that case our 
route would have been to the west, or the west-southwest, 
whereas we had always continued it toward the south. We 
further considered that we exposed ourselves to the risk of 
losing the results of this voyage, of which we could give no 
information if we proceeded to fling ourselves into the hands 
of the Spaniards who, without doubt, would at least have de- 
tained us as captives. Moreover, we saw very plainly that 
we were not in a condition to resist savages allied to the 
Europeans, who were numerous, and expert in firing guns, 
and who continually infested the lower part of the river. 
Finally, we had obtained all the information that could be 
desired in regard to this discovery. All these reasons induced 
us to decide upon returning; this we announced to the sav- 
ages, and, after a day's rest, made our preparations for it. 



1673] VOYAGE OF JOLLIET AND MARQUETTE 257 



Section 10. Return of the Father and of the French. Baptism 

of a Dying Child. 

After a month's navigation, while descending Missisipi 
from the 42nd to the 34th degree, and beyond, and after 
preaching the Gospel as well as I could to the nations that I 
met, we start on the 17th of July from the village of the Aken- 
sea, to retrace our steps. We therefore reascend the Mis- 
sisipi which gives us much trouble in breasting its currents. 
It is true that we leave it, at about the 38th degree, to enter 
another river, wliich greatly shortens our road, and takes us 
with but little effort to the Lake of the Ilinois.^ 

We have seen nothing like this river that we enter, as re- 
gards its fertility of soil, its prairies and woods; its cattle, 
elk, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, parroquets, and 
even beaver. There are many small lakes and rivers. That 
on which we sailed is wide, deep, and still, for 65 leagues. 
In the spring and during part of the summer there is only one 
portage of half a league. We found on it a village of Ilinois 
called Kaskasia,^ consisting of 74 cabins. They received us 
very well, and obliged me to promise that I would return to 
instruct them. One of the chiefs of this nation, with his 
young men, escorted us to the Lake of the Ilinois, whence, at 
last, at the end of September, we reached the Bay des Puantz, 
from which we had started at the beginning of June. 

Had this voyage resulted in the salvation of even one soul, 
I would consider all my troubles well rewarded, and I have 
reason to presume that such is the case. For, when I was re- 
turning, we passed through the Ilinois of Peouarea, and during 
three days I preached the Faith in all their cabins; after 
which, while we were embarking, a dying child was brought 
to me at the water's edge, and I baptized it shortly before it 
died, through an admirable act of Providence for the salvation 
of that innocent soul. 

^The Illinois River, leading via the Chicago portage to Lake Michigan, 
then frequently called Lake of the Illinois. 

^ The Kaskaskia village, removed later to the stream bearing that name in 
southern Illinois. In Marquette's time it was on the Illinois, not far from the 
present village of Utica in La Salle County. 



MARQUETTE'S LAST VOYAGE, 1674-1675 



INTRODUCTION 

For a year Father Marquette recuperated at the mission 
of St. Frangois Xavier. Then, in the autumn of 1674, there 
came to him from Canada the permission he so passionately 
desired to found a mission among the Illinois Indians. He 
embarked on Lake Michigan in the late autumn of 1674, but 
the rigors of an early winter and the weakness of disease in- 
capacitated the Father for his chosen work. Nevertheless he 
struggled on, and wintered on the site of Chicago, teaching and 
baptizing such stray savages as came his way. As soon as 
spring opened he hastened to the Illinois village, where he 
spent Easter with his red children, after which his two atten- 
dants sought to take him home to St. Ignace. Day by day with 
patient devotion they paddled the sick man in his canoe along 
the eastern shore of the great lake. Finally, May 18, 1675, 
at the mouth of the river that now bears his name, they carried 
him reverently to land and his spirit escaped to the immortals. 
Two years later some Ottawa to whom he had ministered 
transplanted his remains to the chapel he had built at St. 
Ignace. To-day Marquette's statue in the Capitol at Washing- 
ton typifies Wisconsin's remembrance of the discoverer, mis- 
sionary, and martyr, Jacques Marquette. 

The history of his manuscripts has been recounted in the 
introduction to the preceding piece. We reprint here, from 
Dr. Thwaites's edition of the Jesuit Relations, LIX. 165-211, 
Marquette's unfinished journal of his final voyage, and the 
general account of this last expedition and of his death, by 
Father Dablon, superior of the Jesuits in Canada, in a contem- 
porary relation, of which the manuscript is in the archives of 
their College of St. Mary in Montreal. 

261 



MARQUETTE'S LAST VOYAGE, 1674-1675 

Unfinished Journal of Father Jacques Marquette, addressed to 
the Reverend Father Claude Dablon, Superior of the Missions. 

+ 

My Reverend Father, Pax Christi. 

Having been compelled to remain at St. Francois^ 
throughout the summer on account of an ailment, of which 
I was cured in the month of September, I awaited there the 
return of our people from down below,^ in order to learn 
what I was to do with regard to my wintering. They brought 
me orders to proceed to the mission of La Conception among 
the Ilinois. After complying with Your Reverence's request 
for copies of my journal concerning the Missisipi River, I 
departed with Pierre Porteret and Jacque [ hlank ], on the 
25th of October, 1674, about noon. The wind compelled us 
to pass the night at the outlet of the river,^ where the Poute- 
watamis were assembling ; for the elders would not allow them 
to go in the direction of the Ilinois, lest the young men, after 
collecting robes with the goods that they brought from below, 
and after hunting beaver, might seek to go down in the spring ; 
because they have reason to fear the Nadouessi. 

October 26. On passing the village, we found only two 
cabins of savages, who were going to spend the wdnter at La 
Gasparde. We learned that five canoes of Poutewatamis, 
and four of Ilinois, had started to go to the Kaskaskia. 

27. We were delayed in the morning by rain ; in the after- 
noon, we had fine, calm weather, so that at Sturgeon Bay we 
joined the savages, who travelled ahead of us. 

1 The mission of St. Franpois Xavier at De Pere, Wisconsin. 
^ The ordinary term for lower Canada, whence the trading canoes went 
each year. 

»Fox River, emptying, into Green Bay. 

262 



1674] MARQUETTE'S LAST VOYAGE 263 

28. We reached the portage.^ A canoe that had gone 
ahead prevented us from killing any game. We began our 
portage and slept on the other shore, where the stormy weather 
gave us much trouble. Pierre did not arrive until an hour 
after dark, having lost his way on a path where he had never 
been. After the rain and thunder, snow fell. 

29. Being compelled to change our camping-ground, we 
continued to carry our packs. The portage covers nearly a 
league, and is very difficult in many places. The Ilinois as- 
semble in the evening in our cabin, and ask us not to leave them, 
as we may need them, and they know the lake better than we 
do. We promise them this. 

30. The Ilinois women complete our portage in the morn- 
ing. We are delayed by the wind. There are no animals. 

31. We start, with tolerably fair weather, and sleep at 
a small river. The road by land from Sturgeon Bay is very 
difficult. Last autumn, we were travelling not far from it 
when we entered the forest. 

November 1. After I said holy mass, we came for the night 
to a river, whence one goes to the Poutewatamis by a good 
road. Chachagwessiou, an Ilinois greatly esteemed among 
his nation, partly because he engages in the fur trade, arrived 
at night with a deer on his back, of which he gave us a share. 

2. After holy mass, we travel all day in very fine weather. 
We kill two cats, which are almost nothing but fat. 

3. While I am ashore, walking on fine sand, the whole 
water's edge being covered with grass similar to that which 
is hauled up by the nets at St. Ignace, I come to a river which 
I am unable to cross.^ Our people enter it, in order to take 
me on board ; but we are unable to go out, on account of the 
waves. All the other canoes go on, excepting one, which came 
with us. 

4. We are delayed. There seems to be an island out in 
the lake, for the game go there at night. 

5. We had considerable difficulty in getting out of the 
river at noon. We found the savages in a river, where I 
seized the opportunity of instructing the Ilinois, on account 
of a feast that Nawaskingwe had just given to a wolfskin. 

1 Sturgeon Bay portage through the Door County peninsula, Wisconsin. 

2 Probably Sheboygan River, Wisconsin. 



264 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1674 

6. We performed a good day's journey. While the sav- 
ages were hunting, they discovered some tracks of men, and 
this compelled us to stay over on the following day. 

9. We landed about two o'clock, because there was a 
good camping-ground. We were detained there for five days, 
on account of the great agitation of the lake, although without 
any wind; and afterward of the snow, which was melted 
on the following day by the sun, and a breeze from the lake. 

15. After proceeding a sufficient distance, we camp at 
a favorable place, where we are detained three days. Pierre 
mends a savage's gun. Snow falls at night, and thaws during 
the day. 

20. We sleep near the bluffs, and are very poorly shel- 
tered. The savages remain behind while we are delayed 
two days and a half by the wind. Pierre goes into the woods, 
and finds the prairie twenty leagues from the portage. He 
also goes through a fine canal which is vaulted, as it were, 
to the height of a man, in which there is water a foot deep. 

23. After embarking at noon, we experienced some diffi- 
culty in reaching a river. ^ Then the cold began, and more 
than a foot of snow covered the ground ; it has remained ever 
since. We were delayed for three days, during which Pierre 
killed a deer, three bustards, and three turkeys, which were 
very good. The others proceeded to the prairies. A savage 
discovered some cabins, and came to get us. Jacques went 
there on the following day, with him ; two hunters also came 
to see me. They were Maskoutens, to the number of eight 
or nine cabins, who had separated from the others in order 
to obtain subsistence. With fatigues almost impossible to 
Frenchmen, they travel throughout the winter over very bad 
roads, the land abounding in streams, small lakes, and swamps. 
Their cabins are wretched ; and they eat or starve, according 
to the places where they happen to be. Being detained by 
the wind, we noticed that there were great shoals out in the 
lake, over which the waves broke continually. Here I had an 
attack of diarrhoea. 

27. We had some trouble in getting out of the river; 
then, after proceeding about three leagues, we found the 
savages, who had killed some cattle, and three Ilinois who 

^ Milwaukee River. 



1674] MARQUETTE'S LAST VOYAGE 265 

had come from the village. We were delayed there by a wind 
from the land, by heavy waves from the lake, and by cold. 

December 1. We went ahead of the savages, so that I 
might celebrate holy mass. 

3. After saying holy mass, we embarked, and were com- 
pelled to make for a point, so that we could land, on account 
of floating masses of ice. 

4. We started with a favoring wind, and reached the 
river of the portage, which was frozen to the depth of half a 
foot; there was more snow there than elsewhere, as well as 
more tracks of animals and turkeys. 

Navigation on the lake is fairly good from one portage 
to the other, for there is no crossing to be made, and one can 
land anywhere, unless one persist in going on when the waves 
are high and the wind is strong. The land bordering it is of 
no value, except on the prairies. There are eight or ten quite 
fine rivers. Deer-hunting is very good, as one goes away from 
the Poutewatamis. 

12. As we began yesterday to haul our baggage in order 
to approach the portage, the Ilinois who had left the Poute- 
watamis arrived, with great difficulty. We were unable to 
celebrate holy mass on the day of the Conception, owing to 
the bad weather and cold.^ During our stay at the entrance 
of the river, Pierre and Jacques killed three cattle and four 
deer, one of which ran some distance with its heart split in 
two. We contented ourselves with killing three or four turkeys, 
out of many that came around our cabin because they were 
almost dying of hunger. Jacques brought in a partridge that 
he had MUed, exactly like those of France except that it had 
two ruffs, as it were, of three or four feathers as long as a finger, 
near the head, covering the two sides of the neck where there 
are no feathers. 

14. Having encamped near the portage, two leagues up 
the river, we resolved to winter there, as it was impossible to 
go farther, since we were too much hindered and my ailment 
did not permit me to give myself much fatigue.^ Several 
Ilinois passed yesterday, on their way to carry their furs to 

1 See p. 228, note 2, ante. 

2 A large cross has been erected in the southwestern district of Chicago to 
commemorate the site of Marquette's winter quarters in 1674-1675. 



266 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1675 

Nawaskingwe ; we gave them one of the cattle and one of 
the deer that Jacque had killed on the previous day. I do 
not think that I have ever seen any savages more eager for 
French tobacco than they. They came and threw beaver- 
skins at our feet, to get some pieces of it; but we returned 
these, giving them some pipefuls of the tobacco because we 
had not yet decided whether we would go farther. 

15. Chachagwessiou and the other Ilinois left us, to go 
and join their people and give them the goods that they had 
brought, in order to obtain their robes. In this they act like 
the traders, and give hardly any more than do the French. 
I instructed them before their departure, deferring the holding 
of a council until the spring, when I should be in their village. 
They traded us three fine robes of ox-skins for a cubit of to- 
bacco; these were very useful to us during the winter. Be- 
ing thus rid of them, we said the mass of the Conception. 
After the 14th, my disease turned into a bloody flux. 

30. Jacque arrived from the Ilinois village, which is only 
six leagues from here ; there they were suffering from hunger, 
because the cold and snow prevented them from himting. 
Some of them notified La Toupine^ and the surgeon that 
we were here ; and, as they could not leave their cabin, they 
had so frightened the savages, believing that we should suffer 
from hunger if we remained here, that Jacque had much diffi- 
culty in preventing fifteen young men from coming to carry 
away all our belongings. 

January 16, 1675. As soon as the two Frenchmen learned 
that my iUness prevented me from going to them, the surgeon 
came here with a savage, to bring us some blueberries and 
com. They are only eighteen leagues from here, in a fine place 
for hunting cattle, deer, and turkeys, which are excellent 
there. They had also collected provisions while waiting for 
us ; and had given the savages to understand that their cabin 
belonged to the black gown; and it may be said that they 
have done and said all that could be expected of them. 
After the surgeon had spent some time here, in order to per- 
form his devotions, I sent Jacque with him to tell the Ilinois 

' Pierre Moreau dit La Toupine was a noted wood-ranger of the seven- 
teenth century, who had been a soldier in the garrison of Quebec. He was with 
St. Lusson at Sault Ste. Marie in 1671, and died at Quebec as late as 1727. 



16751 MARQUETTE'S LAST VOYAGE 267 

near that place that my illness prevented me from going to 
see them ; and that I would even have some difficulty in go- 
ing there in the spring, if it continued. 

24. Jacque returned with a sack of corn and other deli- 
cacies, which the French had given him for me. He also 
brought the tongues and flesh of two cattle, which a savage 
and he had killed near here. But all the animals feel the bad 
weather. 

26. Three Ilinois brought us, on behalf of the elders, two 
sacks of corn, some dried meat, pumpkins, and twelve beaver- 
skins : first, to make me a mat ; second, to ask me for powder ; 
third, that we might not be hungry ; fourth, to obtain a few 
goods. I replied: first, that I had come to instruct them, 
by speaking to them of prayer, etc. ; second, that I would give 
them no powder, because we sought to restore peace every- 
where, and I did not wish them to begin war with the Mui- 
amis ; third, that we feared not hunger ; fourth, that I would 
encourage the French to bring them goods, and that they 
must give satisfaction to those who were among them for the 
beads which they had taken as soon as the surgeon started 
to come here. As they had come a distance of twenty leagues, 
I gave them, in order to reward them for their trouble and 
for what they had brought me, a hatchet, two knives, three 
clasp-knives, ten brasses of glass beads, and two double mir- 
rors, telling them that I would endeavor to go to the village, 
for a few days only, if my illness continued. They told me 
to take courage, and to remain and die in their country ; and 
that they had been informed that I would remain there for a 
long time. 

February 9. Since we addressed ourselves to the Blessed 
Virgin Immaculate, and commenced a novena with a mass, 
at which Pierre and Jacque, who do everything they can to 
relieve me, received communion, to ask God to restore my 
health, my bloody flux has left me, and all that remains is a 
weakness of the stomach. I am beginning to feel much 
better, and to regain my strength. Out of a cabin of Ilinois, 
who encamped near us for a month, a portion have again 
taken the road to the Poutewatamis, and some are still on the 
lake-shore, where they wait until navigation is open. They 
bear letters for our Fathers of St. Francois. 



268 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1675 

20. We have had opportunity to observe the tides com- 
ing in from the lake, which rise and fall several times a day ; 
and, although there seems to be no shelter in the lake, we have 
seen the ice going against the wind. These tides made the 
water good or bad, because that which flows from above 
comes from prairies and small streams. The deer, which 
are plentiful near the lake-shore, are so lean that we had to 
abandon some of those which we had killed. 

March 23. We killed several partridges, only the males 
of which had ruffs on the neck, the females not having any. 
These partridges are very good, but not like those of France. 

30. The north wind delayed the thaw until the 25th of 
March, when it set in with a south wind. On the very next 
day, game began to make its appearance. We killed thirty 
pigeons, which I found better than those down the great river; 
but they are smaller, both old and young. On the 28th, the 
ice broke up, and stopped above us. On the 29th, the waters 
rose so high that we had barely time to decamp as fast as 
possible, putting our goods in the trees, and trying to sleep on 
a hillock. The water gained on us nearly all night, but there 
was a slight freeze, and the water fell a little, while we were 
near our packages. The barrier has just broken, the ice has 
drifted away; and, because the water is already rising, we 
are about to embark to continue our journey. 

The Blessed Virgin Immaculate has taken such care of us 
during our wintering that we have not lacked provisions, and 
have stiU remaining a large sack of corn, with some meat and 
fat. We also lived very pleasantly, for my illness did not pre- 
vent me from saying holy mass every day. We were unable 
to keep Lent, except on Fridays and Saturdays. 

31. We started yesterday and travelled three leagues up 
the river without finding any portage. W^e hauled our goods 
probably about half an arpent. Besides this discharge, the 
river has another one by which we are to go down. The very 
high lands alone are not flooded. At the place where we are, 
the water has risen more than twelve feet. This is where we 
began our portage eighteen months ago. Bustards and ducks 
pass continually; we contented ourselves with seven. The 
ice, which is still drifting down, keeps us here, as we d© not 
know in what condition the lower part of the river is 



1675] MARQUETTE'S LAST VOYAGE 269 

April 1. As I do not yet know whether I shall remain 
next summer in the village, on account of my diarrhoea, we 
leave here part of our goods, those with which we can dis- 
pense, and especially a sack of corn. While a strong south 
wind delays us, we hope to go to-morrow to the place where 
the French are, at a distance of fifteen leagues from here. 

6. Strong winds and the cold prevent us from proceed- 
ing. The two lakes over which we passed are full of bustards, 
geese, ducks, cranes, and other game unknown to us. The 
rapids are quite dangerous in some places. We have just 
met the surgeon, with a savage who was going up with a 
canoe-load of furs; but, as the cold is too great for persons 
who are obliged to drag their canoes in the water, he has made 
a cache of his beaver-skins, and returns to the village to-mor- 
row with us. If the French procure robes in this country, 
they do not disrobe the savages, so great are the hardships that 
must be endured to obtain them.^ 

[Addressed : "To my Reverend Father, Father Claude 
Dablon, Superior of the Missions of the Society of Jesus in 
New France. Quebec."] 

[Endorsed: "Letter and Journal of the late Father Mar- 
quette."] 

[Endorsed: "Everything concerning Father Marquette's 
Voyage."] 

Account of the Second Voyage and the Death of Father 
Jacques Marquette 

The mission of the Ilinois was founded in the year 1674, 
after the first voyage which Father Jacques Marquet made 
to discover new territories and new peoples who are on the 
great and famous river Missisipi. 

The year following, he made a second voyage in order to 
establish there the mission ; it is that one which we are about 
to relate. 

'This was Marquette's last entry. The succeeding part of the relation, 
describing his last voyage, death, and burial, was written by Father Dablon. 



270 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1675 



Section 1. Narrative of the Second Voyage that Father Mar quel 
made to the Ilinois. He reaches them, notwithstanding his 
Illness, and begins the Mission of La Conception. 

Father Jacques Marquette, having promised the Ilinois 
on his first voyage to theni; in 1673, that he would return to 
them the following year, to teach them the mysteries of our 
religion, had much difficulty in keeping his word. The great 
hardships of his first voyage had brought upon him a bloody 
flux, and had so weakened him that he was giving up the 
hope of undertaking a second. However, his sickness de- 
creased; and, as it had almost entirely abated by the close 
of the summer in the following year, he obtained the permis- 
sion of his superiors to return to the Ilinois and there begin 
that fair mission. 

He set out for that purpose, in the month of November 
of the year 1674, from the Bay des Puants, with two men, one 
of whom had made the former voyage with him. During a 
month of navigation on the Lake of the Ilinois, he was toler- 
ably well ; but, as soon as the snow began to fall, he was again 
seized with his bloody flux, which compelled him to halt in 
the river which leads to the Ilinois. It was there that they 
constructed a cabin in which to pass the winter, amid such 
inconveniences that, his malady increasing more and more, 
he saw clearly that God was granting to him the favor which 
he had so many times besought from Him ; and he even told 
his two companions very plainly that he would certainly die 
of that malady, and during that voyage. Duly to prepare 
his soul, despite the severe indisposition of his body, he began 
this so severe winter sojourn by the retreat of St. Ignatius, 
which he performed with every feeling of devotion, and many 
celestial consolations; and then he passed the whole of the 
remaining time in holding communion with all Heaven, hav- 
ing, in these deserts, no intercourse with the earth except 
with his two companions. He confessed them and admin- 
istered communion to them twice in the week, and exhorted 
them as much as his strength permitted him. A short time 
after Christmas, that he might obtain the favor of not dying 
without having taken possession of his dear mission, he in- 



1675] MARQUETTE'S LAST VOYAGE 271 

vited his companions to make a novena in honor of the Im- 
maculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. His prayer was 
answered, against all human probability; and, his health 
improving, he prepared himself to go to the village of the Ilinois 
as soon as navigation should open, which he did with much 
joy, setting out for that place on the 29th of March. He 
spent eleven days on the way, during which time he had oc- 
casion to suffer much, both from his own illness, from which 
he had not entirely recovered, and from the very severe and 
unfavorable weather. 

On at last arriving at the village, he was received as an 
angel from Heaven. After he had assembled at various times 
the chiefs of the nation, with all the old men, that he might 
sow in their minds the first seeds of the Gospel, and after hav- 
ing given instruction in the cabins, which were always filled 
with a great crowd of people, he resolved to address all in 
public, in a general assembly which he called together in the 
open air, the cabins being too small to contain all the people. 
It was a beautiful prairie, close to a village, which was se- 
lected for the great comicil; this was adorned, after the 
fashion of the country, by covering it with mats and bear- 
skins. Then the Father, having directed them to stretch out 
upon lines several pieces of Chinese taffeta, attached to these 
four large pictures of the Blessed Virgin, which were visible 
on all sides. The audience was composed of 500 chiefs and 
elders, seated in a circle around the Father, and of all the 
young men, who remained standing. They numbered more 
than 1500 men, without counting the women and children, 
who are always nimierous, the village being composed of five 
or six hundred fires. The Father addressed the whole body 
of people, and conveyed to them ten messages, by means of 
ten presents which he gave them. He explained to them the 
principal mysteries of our religion, and the purpose that had 
brought him to their countiy. Above all, he preached to 
them Jesus Christ, on the very eve [of that great day] on which 
he had died upon the Cross for them, as well as for all the 
rest of mankind ; then he said holy mass. On the third day 
after, which was Easter Sunday,^ things being prepared in the 
same manner as on Thursday, he celebrated the holy mys- 

1 April 14, 1675. 



272 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTmVEST [1675 

teries for the second time ; and by these two, the only sacri- 
fices ever offered there to God, he took possession of that land 
in the name of Jesus Christ, and gave to that mission the 
name of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. 

He was listened to by all those peoples with universal 
joy ; and they prayed him with most earnest entreaty to come 
back to them as soon as possible, since his sickness obliged 
him to return. The Father, on his side, expressed to them the 
affection which he felt for them, and the satisfaction that they 
had given him ; and pledged them his word that he, or some 
other of our Fathers, would return to carry on that mission 
so happily inaugurated. This promise he repeated several 
times, while parting with them to go upon his way; and he 
set out with so many tokens of regard on the part of those 
good peoples that, as a mark of honor, they chose to escort 
him for more than thirty leagues on the road, vying with each 
other in taking charge of his slender baggage. 

Section 2. The Father is compelled to leave his Ilinois Mission. 
His Last Illness. His Precious Death in the Heart of the 
Forest. 

After the Ilinois, filled with great esteem for the Gospel, 
had taken leave of the Father, he continued his journey, and 
shortly after reached the Lake of the Ilinois, upon whose 
waters he had to journey nearly a hundred leagues, by an un- 
known route, whereon he had never before travelled; for he 
was obliged to coast along the southern shore of the lake, 
having come by the northern.^ But his strength was so 
rapidly diminishing that his two men despaired of being able 
to bring him alive to the end of their journey. Indeed, he 
became so feeble and exhausted that he was unable to assist 
or even to move himself, and had to be handled and carried 
about like a child. 

Meanwhile, he preserved in that condition an admirable 
equanimity, resignation, joy, and gentleness, consoling his 
dear companions and encouraging them to suffer patiently 
all the hardships of that voyage, in the assurance that God 

1 This southern or rather eastern route was taken by voyagers in order to 
take advantage of the currents setting northwardly. 



1675] MARQUETTE'S LAST VOYAGE 273 

would not abandon them after his death. It was during this 
voyage that he began to make more special preparation for 
death. He held communion, sometimes with our Lord, some- 
times with his holy Mother, or with his guardian angel, or with 
all Paradise. He was often overheard repeating these words, 
Credo quod redemptor mens vivit; or Maria, Mater Gratice, 
Mater Dei, memerito mei} In addition to the spiritual exer- 
cise, which was read to him every day, he requested toward 
the close that they would read to him his meditation pre- 
paratory for death, which he carried about with him. He 
recited every day his breviary ; and although he was so low 
that his sight and strength were greatly enfeebled, he con- 
tinued to do so to the last day of his life, despite the remon- 
strance of his companions. 

Eight days before his death, he was thoughtfiil enough to 
prepare the holy water for use during the rest of his illness, 
in his agony, and at his burial ; and he instructed his compan- 
ions how it should be used. 

The evening before his death, which was a Friday, he 
told them, very joyously, that it would take place on the 
morrow. He conversed with them during the whole day as 
to what would need to be done for his burial : about the 
manner in which they should inter him ; of the spot that should 
be chosen for his grave ; how his feet, his hands, and his face 
should be arranged ; how they should erect a Cross over his 
grave. He even went so far as to counsel them, three hours 
before he expired, that as soon as he was dead they should 
take the little hand-bell of his chapel, and sound it while he 
was being put under ground. He spoke of all these things 
with so great tranquillity and presence of mind that one might 
have supposed that he was concerned with the death and 
funeral of some other person, and not with his own. 

Thus did he converse with them as they made their way 
upon the lake, until, having perceived a river, on the shore 
of which stood an eminence that he deemed well suited to be 
the place of his interment, he told them that that was the 
place of his last repose.^ They mshed, however, to proceed 

1 "I know that my Redeemer liveth," and "Mary, Mother of Grace, Mother 
of God, remember me." 

2 Now known as Pere Marquette River, at whose mouth is the city of 
liudington, Michigan. 



274 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1675 

farther, as the weather was favorable, and the day was not 
far advanced; but God raised a contrary wind, which com- 
pelled them to return, and enter the river which the Father 
had pointed out. They accordingly brought him to the land, 
lighted a little fire for him, and prepared for him a wretched 
cabin of bark. They laid him down therein, in the least un- 
comfortable way that they could; but they were so stricken 
with sorrow that, as they have since said, they hardly knew 
what they were doing. 

The Father, being thus stretched on the ground in much 
the same way as was St. Francis Xavier, as he had always so 
passionately desired, and finding himself alone in the midst 
of these forests, for his companions were occupied with the 
disembarkation, he had leisure to repeat all the acts in which 
he had continued during these last days. 

His dear companions having afterward rejoined him, all 
disconsolate, he comforted them, and inspired them with the 
confidence that God would take care of them after his death, 
in these new and unknown countries. He gave them the last 
instructions, thanked them for all the charities which they 
had exercised in his behalf during the whole journey, and en- 
treated pardon for the trouble that he had given them. He 
charged them to ask pardon for him also, from all our Fathers 
and brethren who live in the country of the Outaouacs. Then 
he undertook to prepare them for the sacrament of penance, 
which he administered to them for the last time. He gave 
them also a paper on which he had written all his faults since 
his own last confession, that they might place it in the hands 
of the Father Superior, that the latter might be enabled to 
pray to God for him in a more special manner. Finally, he 
promised not to forget them in Paradise. And, as he was 
very considerate, knowing that they were much fatigued with 
the hardships of the preceding days, he bade them go and take 
a little repose. He assured them that his hour was not yet 
so very near, and that he would awaken them when the time 
should come, as, in fact, two or three hours afterward he did 
summon them, being ready to enter into the agony. 

They drew near to him, and he embraced them once 
again, while they burst into tears at his feet. Then he asked 
for holy water and his reliquaiy ; and having himself removed 



1675] MARQUETTE'S LAST VOYAGE 275 

his crucifix, which he carried always suspended round his 
neck, he placed it in the hands of one of his companions, 
begging hun to hold it before his eyes. Then, feeling that he 
had but a short time to live, he made a last effort, clasped 
his hands, and, with a steady and fond look upon his crucifix, 
he uttered aloud his profession of faith, and gave thanks to 
the Divine Majesty for the great favor which he had ac- 
corded him of dying in the Society, of dying in it as a mission- 
ary of Jesus Christ, and, above all, of dying in it, as he had 
always prayed, in a wretched cabin in the midst of the forests 
and bereft of all human succor. 

After that, he was silent, commiming within himself with 
God. Nevertheless, he let escape from time to time these 
words, Sustinuit anima mea in verbo ejus; ^ or these. Mater 
Dei, memento mei — which were the last words that he uttered 
before entering his agony, which was, however, very mild and 
peaceful. 

He had prayed his companions to put him in mind, when 
they should see him about to expire, to repeat frequently the 
names of Jesus and Mary, if he could not himself do so. They 
did as they were bidden ; and, when they believed him to be 
near his end, one of them called aloud, "Jesus, Mary !" The 
dying man repeated the words distinctly, several times ; and 
as if, at these sacred names, something presented itself to 
him, he suddenly raised his eyes above his crucifix, holding 
them riveted on that object, which he appeared to regard with 
pleasure. And so, with a countenance beaming and all aglow, 
he expired without any struggle, and so gently that it might 
have been regarded as a pleasant sleep. 

His two poor companions, shedding many tears over 
him, composed his body in the manner which he had pre- 
scribed to them. Then they carried him devoutly to burial, 
ringing the while the little bell as he had bidden them ; and 
planted a large Cross near to his grave, as a sign to passers-by. 

When it became a question of embarking, to proceed on 
their journey, one of the two, who for some days had been 
so heartsick with sorrow, and so greatly prostrated with an 
internal malady, that he could no longer eat or breathe except 
with difficulty, bethought himself, while the other was making 

^ "My soul hath endured in his word." 



276 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1675 

all preparations for embarking, to visit the grave of his good 
Father, and ask his intercession with the glorious Virgin, as 
he had promised, not doubting in the least that he was in 
Heaven. He fell, then, upon his knees, made a short prayer, 
and having reverently taken some earth from the tomb, he 
pressed it to his breast. Immediately his sickness abated, 
and his sorrow was changed into a joy which did not forsake 
him during the remainder of his journey. 



Section 3. What occurred at the Removal of the Bones of the late 
Father Marquette, which were taken from his Grave on the 
19th of May, 1677, the same Day as that on which he died 
in the Year 1675.^ A Brief Summary of his Virtues. 

God did not permit that a deposit so precious should re- 
main in the midst of the forest, unhonored and forgotten. 
The savages named Kiskakons,^ who have been making pub- 
lic profession of Christianity for nearly ten years, and who 
were instructed by Father Marquette when he lived at the 
Point of St. Esprit, at the extremity of Lake Superior, carried 
on their last winter's himting in the vicinity of the Lake of 
the Ilinois. As they were returning in the spring, they were 
greatly pleased to pass near the grave of their good Father, 
whom they tenderly loved; and God also put it into their 
hearts to remove his bones and bring them to our church at 
the mission of St. Ignace at Missilimakinac, where those sav- 
ages make their abode. 

They repaired, then, to the spot, and resolved among 
themselves to act in regard to the Father as they are wont 
to do toward those for whom they profess great respect. 
Accordingly, they opened the grave, and uncovered the body ; 
and, although the flesh and internal organs were all dried up, 
they found it entire, so that not even the skin was in any way 
injured. This did not prevent them from proceeding to dis- 
sect it, as is their custom. They cleansed the bones and 
exposed them to the sun to dry ; then, carefully laying them 

1 May 18, 1675, was the true date of his death, since Dablon expressly re- 
lates that it befell on Saturday. 

2 For the Kiskakon Ottawa see p. 121, note 1, ante. 



1675] MARQUETTE'S LAST VOYAGE 277 

in a box of birch-bark, they set out to bring them to our mis- 
sion of St. Ignace.^ 

There were nearly thirty canoes which formed, in excel- 
lent order, that fmieral procession. There were also a goodly 
number of Iroquois, who united with our Algonquin savages 
to lend more honor to the ceremonial. When they drew near 
our house, Father Nouvel, who is its Superior, with Father 
Piercon, went out to meet them, accompanied by the French- 
men and savages who were there ; and having halted the pro- 
cession, he put the usual questions to them, to make sure that 
it was really the Father's body which they were bringing. 
Before convejdng it to land, they intoned the De profundis^ 
in the presence of the thirty canoes, which were still on the 
water, and of the people who were on the shore. After that, 
the body was carried to the church, care being taken to ob- 
serve all that the ritual appoints in such ceremonies. It re- 
mained exposed under the pall, all that day, which was Whit- 
monday, the 8th of June; and on the morrow, after having 
rendered to it all the funeral rites, it was lowered into a small 
vault in the middle of the church, where it rests as the guardian 
angel of our Outaouas missions. The savages often come to 
pray over his tomb. Not to mention more than this instance, 
a young girl, aged nineteen or twenty years, whom the late 
Father had instructed, and who had been baptized in the past 
year, fell sick, and applied to Father Nouvel to be bled and to 
take certain remedies. The Father prescribed to her, as sole 
medicine, to come for three days and say a pater and three 
ave's at the tomb of Father Marquette. She did so, and be- 
fore the third day was cured, without bleeding or any other 
remedies. 

Father Jaques Marquette, of the province of Champagne, 
died at the age of thirty-eight years, of which twenty-one were 
passed in the Society — ^namely, twelve in France and nine 
in Canada. He was sent to the missions of the upper Al- 

^ The site of this mission chapel and the remains of Marquette were dis- 
covered two hundred years after his burial by the priest of the village, Rev. 
Edward Jacker. The remnants of a birch-bark box, a number of bones, and part 
of a skull were unearthed. Most of these relics are now in the possession of 
Marquette University at Milwaukee. 

» Psahn 130. 



278 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1675 

gonquins, who are called Outaouacs ; and labored therein with 
the zeal that might be expected from a man who had proposed 
to himself St. Francis Xavier as the model of his life and 
death. He resembled that great saint, not only in the variety 
of barbarian languages which he mastered, but also by the 
range of his zeal, which made him carry the faith to the ends 
of this new world, and nearly 800 leagues from here into the 
forests, where the name of Jesus Christ had never been pro- 
claimed. 

He always entreated God that he might end his life in these 
laborious missions, and that, like his dear St. Xavier, he might 
die in the midst of the woods, bereft of everything. Every 
day, he interposed for that end both the merits of Jesus Christ 
and the intercession of the Virgin Immaculate, for whom he 
entertained a singular tenderness. 

Accordingly, he obtained through such powerful mediators 
that which he solicited with so much earnestness; since he 
had, like the apostle of the Indies, the happiness to die in a 
wretched cabin on the shore of Lake Ilinois, forsaken by all 
the world. 

, We might say much of the rare virtues of this noble mis- 
sionary : of his zeal, which prompted him to carry the Faith 
so far, and proclaim the Gospel to so many peoples who were 
unknown to us ; of his gentleness, which rendered him beloved 
by all, and made him all things to all men — a Frenchman with 
the French, a Huron with the Hurons, an Algonquin with the 
Algonquins; of the childlike candor with which he disclosed 
his heart to his superiors, and even to all kinds of persons, 
with an ingenuousness which won all hearts; of his angelic 
chastity ; and of his uninterrupted union with God. 

But that which apparently predominated was a devotion, 
altogether rare and singular, to the Blessed Virgin, and par- 
ticularly toward the mystery of her Immaculate Conception. 
It was a pleasure to hear him speak or preach on that subject. 
All his conversations and letters contained something about 
the Blessed Virgin Immaculate — for so he always called her. 
From the age of nine years, he fasted every Saturday; and 
from his tenderest youth began to say the little office of the 
Conception, inspiring every one with the same devotion. 
Some months before his death, he said every day with his two 



1675] MARQUETTE'S LAST VOYAGE 279 

men a little corona of the Immaculate Conception which he 
had devised as follows : After the credo, there is said once the 
pater and ave, and then four times these words : Ave Filia Dei 
Patris, ave Mater Filii Dei, ave Sponsa Spiritus Sancti, ave 
Templum totius Trinitatis: per sanctam Virginitatem et Im- 
maculatam Conceptionem tuam, purissima Virgo, emunda cor 
et carnem meam: in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti,^ 
— concluding with the Gloria Patri, the whole repeated three 
times. 

He never failed to say the mass of the Conception, or, 
at least, when he could do so, the prayer of the Conception. 
He hardly meditated upon any thong else day and night. 
That he might leave us an ever-enduring testimony of his 
sentiments, it was his desire to bestow on the mission of the 
Ilinois the name of La Conception. 

So tender a devotion toward the Mother of God merited 
some singular grace ; and she accorded him the favor that he 
had always requested — to die on a Saturday. His companions 
never doubted that she appeared to him at the hour of his 
death, when, after pronouncing the names of Jesus and Mary, 
he suddenly raised his eyes above his crucifix, holding them 
fixed on an object which he regarded with extreme pleasure, 
and a joy that showed itself upon his features ; and they had, 
at that time, the impression that he had rendered up his soul 
into the hands of his good Mother. 

One of the last letters that he wrote to the Father Superior 
of the missions before his great voyage, is sufficient evidence 
that such were his sentiments. He begins it thus : '* The Blessed 
Virgin Immaculate has obtained for me the favor of reaching 
this place in good health, and with the resolve to correspond 
to the intentions which God has respecting me, since He has 
assigned me to the voyage toward the south. I have no other 
thought than that of doing what God wills. I dread nothing 
— neither the Nadoissis, nor the reception awaiting me among 
the nations, dismay me. One of two things will happen : 
either God will punish me for my crimes and cowardice, or 

1 "Hail, Daughter of God the Father; haU, Mother of God the Son; hail, 
Bride of the Holy Spirit ; hail, Temple of the whole Trinity ; by thy Holy Vir- 
ginity and Immaculate Conception, most pure Virgin, cleanse my heart and 
flesh ; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 



280 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1675 

else He will give me a share in his Cross, which I have not 
yet carried since my arrival in this country. But this Cross 
has been perhaps obtained for me by the Blessed Virgin Im- 
maculate, or it may be death itself, that I may cease to offend 
God. It is that for which I try to hold myself in readiness, 
surrendering myself altogether into His hands. I entreat 
Your Reverence not to forget me, and to obtain for me of 
God that I may not remain ungrateful for the favors which He 
heaps upon me." 

There was found among his papers a manuscript entitled 
"The directing Care of God over a Missionary," in which 
he shows the excellence of that vocation, the advantages 
which it affords for self-sanctification, and the care that God 
takes of Gospel laborers. One sees in this little abstract the 
spirit of God which possessed him. 



MEMOIR ON LA SALLE'S DISCOVERIES, BY 
TONTY, 1678-1690 [1693] 



INTRODUCTION 

Robert Cavelier de La Salle, whose name is indissolubly 
associated with the valley of the Mississippi, although he was 
unfortunate in his life and in his death has been fortunate in 
his biographers both contemporary and recent. About none 
of the French explorers has so large an amount of documentary 
material collected. Eveiy detail of his plans and activities 
after 1678 has been told and retold. His own letters and 
memorials to the court have been preserved in the French 
archives, and were in 1879 printed in three volumes by Pierre 
Margry. In addition to these materials we have the accounts 
of two of the chaplains of his expedition — the gariTilous, 
lively, popular reminiscences of Father Louis Hennepin, whose 
work appeared in edition after edition; the accurate, pains- 
taking narrative of Father Zenobe Membre, who accompanied 
La Salle in his earlier and later attempts at penetrating the 
Mississippi Valley. For La Salle's last expedition, his tragic 
death, and the return of the remnant of his people there are 
numerous sources — the narratives of his brother Jean Cavelier 
and Henri Joutel being those best known. But among all 
who acted with La Salle in his ambitious plans for founding 
an empire in the heart of America, no one is more justly en- 
titled to credence than his faithful lieutenant and friend 
Henri de Tonty. 

Tonty was the son of an Italian banker, Lorenzo Tonti, 
from whom the tontine system of insurance takes its name. 
Having been concerned in Masaniello's Neapolitan conspiracy 
of 1647, Lorenzo fled from his native land to France, where he 
found service under the Italian premier Cardinal Mazarin. 
Henri was born probably near Naples and was a babe when 

283 



284 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

he was carried to the French court. At the age of eighteen or 
nineteen he entered the French service ; he took part in seven 
campaigns, lost his right hand in battle, and was taken pris- 
oner. After the treaty of Nymwegen in 1678 his regiment 
was disbanded, and he returned to Versailles, where he was 
presented to La Salle, then a suppliant for permission to colo- 
nize the valley of the Mississippi. 

It has been well said that of all that La Salle obtained on 
his journey to France in 1678 — the support of the king, the 
interest of his ministers, and substantial help for the expenses 
of his project — none were of more worth than the allegiance 
of the young Italian lieutenant, whose services he secured 
upon this occasion. Through all the following years of danger, 
toil, misfortune, and calumny, Tonty was the one companion 
who comprehended and seconded all La Salle's far-reaching 
plans, and was ever his efficient and faithful supporter. Even 
after his superior's death, Tonty continued his efforts to carry 
out those plans, to rescue La Salle's memory from obloquy 
and to secure his fortune and his fame 

Left by La Salle, in 1682, in charge of his interests in 
Illinois, Tonty maintained with great ability the Fort of St. 
Louis upon "The Rock" on the Illinois River, pacified his 
Indian colonists, introduced agriculture, prosecuted the fur 
trade. His journeys took him from the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi to the land of the Assiniboin on the Red River of the 
North ; from his seigniory in Arkansas to the French capital 
on the St. Lawrence. Deprived at last by royal edict of his 
Fort St. Louis, some time about the close of the seventeenth 
century he sought the South and joined his fortunes with 
those of the Canadian founder of Louisiana. There, not far 
from Mobile, the great lieutenant of La Salle died, Septem- 
ber 6, 1704. 

Tonty wrote two accounts of his experiences in North 
America. The first covers the five years, 1678-1683, and 



INTRODUCTION 285 

exists in two copies in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. It 
is published in Pierre Margry, Decouvertes et JStablissements 
des Frangais dans I'Ouest de VAmerique Septentrionale, I. 573- 
616. The second or longer narrative, covering the years 
1678-1691; was sent in 1693 to Count de Pontchartrain, then 
minister of the colonies. It is published in Pierre Margry, 
Relations et Memoires Inedits (Paris, 1867), pp. 1-36. It 
first appeared in an English translation in Thomas Falconer, 
On the Discovery of the Mississippi, etc. (London, 1844). The 
same translation was used by Benjamin F. French in Louisiana 
Historical Collections, part I. 52-66, and is reprinted in 
Illinois Historical Collections, I. 128-164, from which we re- 
print with many textual corrections. This second memoir 
of Tonty formed the basis of a spurious work entitled, Der- 
nieres Decouvertes dans VAmerique Septentrionale de Monsieur 
de la Salle par Chevalier de Tonti, Gouverneur du Fort St. Louis 
aux Rlinois (Paris, 1697). This was Englished in 1698, and 
issued in London. Tonty during his lifetime protested the 
authorship. This spurious memoir should not be confounded 
with the genuine memoir addressed to the Count de Pont- 
chartrain, which remained in the French archives until the 
nineteenth century. This latter has seemed to the editors 
the best brief connected account, by a participant and survivor, 
of La Salle's explorations in the Mississippi Valley, his plans 
for settlement and exploitation, and his premature and tragic 
death. 



MEMOIR ON LA SALLE'S DISCOVERIES, BY 
TONTY, 1678-1690 [1693] 

Memoir Sent in 1693, on the Discovery of the Mississippi and 
the Neighboring Nations by M. de la Salle, from the Year 
1678 to the Time of His Death, and by the Sieur de Tonty 
to the Year 1691. 

After having been eight years in the French service, by 
land and by sea, and having had a hand shot off in Sicily by 
a grenade,^ I resolved to return to France to solicit employ- 
ment. At that time the late M. Cavelier de La Salle came to 
court, a man of great intelligence and merit, who sought to 
obtain leave from the court to explore the Gulf of Mexico by 
traversing the countries of North America. Having obtained 
of the King the permission he desired through the favor 
of the late M. Colbert and M. de Seignelai, the late Mon- 
seigneur the Prince of Conti,^ who was acquainted with him 
and who honored me with his favor, sent me to ask him to be 
allowed to accompany him iu his long journeys, to which he 
very willingly assented. 

We sailed from Rochelle on the 14th of July, 1678, and 
arrived at Quebec on the 15th of September following. We 
recruited there for some days, and after having taken leave 
of M. the Count de Frontenac, governor general of the coun- 
try, ascended the St. Lawrence as far as Fort Frontenac, 120 
leagues from Quebec, on the banks of the Lake of Frontenac, 
which is about 300 leagues around;^ and after staying there 

1 Tonty had this hand replaced by one of metal which he usually wore 
covered with a glove. He is said to have used this as a weapon with much effect 
among enemy Indians, who called him Bras de Fer (Iron Arm). 

2 Colbert was the prime minister of Louis XIV., Seignelay Colbert's son; 
the (second) prince of Conti was a prominent courtier who had married a daughter 
of the king. 

» Count de Frontenac built this post in 1673 and two years later granted it 
as a seigniory to La Salle. The Indian name for the site was Cataraqui, at the 
modern town of Kingston. La Salle rebuilt the fort in stone, and it was main- 

286 



1679] TONTY'S MEMOIR 287 

four days, we embarked in a boat of forty tons to cross this 
lake, and on Christmas day we found ourselves opposite a 
village called Tsonnontouan,^ to which M. de La Salle sent 
some canoes to procure Indian corn for our subsistence. From 
thence we sailed towards Niagara, intending to look for a 
suitable place above the Falls where a boat might be built. 
The winds were so contraiy that we could not approach it 
nearer than nine leagues, which determined us to go by land. 
We found there some cabins of the Iroquois, who received 
us well. We slept there, and the next day we went three 
leagues further up to look for a good place to build a boat.^ 
There we encamped. 

The boat in which we came was lost on the coast through 
the obstinacy of the pilot, whom M. de La Salle had ordered 
to bring it ashore. The crew and the things in it were saved. 
M. de La Salle determined to return to Fort Frontenac over 
the ice, and I remained in command at Niagara with a Recollect 
Father^ and thirty men. The bark was completed in the 
spring. M. de La Salle joined us with two other Recollect 
Fathers and several men, to aid in bringing this bark up, on 
account of the rapids, which I was not able to ascend on ac- 
count of the weakness of my crew. He directed me to wait 
for him at the extremity of Lake Erie, at a place called Detroit, 
120 leagues from Niagara, to join there some Frenchmen 
whom he had sent off the last autumn. I went in advance in 
a bark canoe, and when we were near Detroit the ship came up.^ 

tained until captured in 1758 by the English. Lake Ontario was frequently 
called Lake Frontenac. 

^ The village of the Seneca near the Genesee River. 

2 This shipyard has been identified near the mouth of Cayuga Creek at a 
village now called La Salle. 

' This Recollect priest was Louis Hennepin, born about 1640 in Belgium. 
Fond of adventure, he travelled in Europe, officiated as chaplain in the Nether- 
lands during war, and embarked in 1675 for New France, becoming the next year 
chaplain at Fort Frontenac. Having accompanied La Salle to Illinois, he was 
sent with an exploring party to the upper Mississippi, captured by the Sioux, 
and carried past the Falls of St. Anthony, to which he gave the present name. 
Rescued by Duluth, he returned to Canada and sailed for Europe, where he pub- 
lished several accounts of his journeys, all designed to give prominence to his 
own achievements. For his rescue by Duluth, see the succeeding document. 

* This first sailing vessel on the upper lakes was called the Griffin, in honor 
of Frontenac's armorial bearings. 



288 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1679 

We got into it, and continued our voyage as far as Missili- 
makinak, where we arrived at the end of August, having 
crossed two lakes larger than that of Frontenac. 

We remained there some days to rest ourselves, and as 
M. de La Salle intended to go to the Illinois, he sent me to 
the Sault Sainte-Marie, where Lake Superior discharges it- 
self into Lake Huron, to look for some of his men who had 
deserted, and himself set sail on the Lake of the Islinois. 
Having arrived at Poutouatamis, an Islinois village,^ the 
calumet was sung, a ceremony of theirs during which large 
presents are given and received, and in which a post is placed 
in the midst of the assembly, where those who wish to make 
known their great deeds in war, striking the post, declaim on 
the deeds they have done. This ceremony regularly takes 
place in the presence of those with whom they wish to make 
alliance, and the calumet is among the savages the symbol of 
peace. M. de La Salle sent his ship back to Niagara to fetch 
the things he wanted, and, embarking in a canoe, continued 
his voyage to the Miamis River. There he commenced build- 
ing a house.^ 

In the meantime I came up with the deserters,^ and kept 
on my way to within thirty leagues of the Miamis River, 
where I was obliged to leave my men, in order to hunt, our 
provisions failing us. I then went on to join M. de La Salle. 
When I arrived he told me he wished that all the men had 
come with me in order to proceed to the Islinois. I retraced 
my way to find them. But the wind increasing, we were forced 
to land, and the violence of the waves was such that our 
canoe was upset. We were, however, saved, but everything 
that was in the canoe was lost, and for want of provisions we 
lived for three days on acorns. I sent word of what had hap- 
pened to M. de La Salle. He directed me to join hun. I went 
in my little canoe. As soon as I arrived we ascended twenty- 

^ There seems to be some hiatus here. La Salle set sail from Michilimackinac 
for Green Bay, on which there was a Potawatomi (not an Illinois) village. 

2 The present St. Joseph River, emptying into Lake Michigan at its south- 
eastern extremity. La Salle's fort at the mouth of the stream was named for 
the Miami Indians, who had recently removed thither from Wisconsin. 

3 Tonty, having apprehended the deserters, came do^vn the eastern shore of 
the lake, while La Salle and the main body of the expedition proceeded in canoes 
along the western and southern shores to St. Joseph River. 



1680] TONTY'S MEMOIR 289 

five leagues, as far as the portage,^ where the men whom I 
had left behind joined us. We made the portage, which is 
about two leagues in length, and came to the source of the 
Islinois River. We embarked there and descended the river 
for 100 leagues. When we arrived at the village of the sav- 
ages, they were absent hunting and as we had no provisions 
we opened some caches^ of Indian corn. 

During this journey some of our Frenchmen, fatigued, 
determined to leave us, but that night was so cold that their 
plan was broken up. We continued our route, in order to join 
the savages, and found them thirty leagues below the village. 
When they saw us they thought we were Iroquois, and there- 
fore put themselves on the defensive and made their women 
run into the woods ; but when they recognized us, the women 
with their children were called back and the calumet was danced 
to M. de La Salle and me, in order to mark their desire to 
live in peace with us. We gave them some merchandise for 
the corn which we had taken in their village. 

This was on the 3d of January, 1679.^ It was necessary 
to fortify ourselves for the winter. Applying ourselves to it, 
we made a fort which was called Crevecoeur.^ Part of our 
people deserted and they even put poison into our kettle. 
M. de La Salle was poisoned, but he was saved by some anti- 
dote a friend had given to him in France. The desertion of 
these men gave us less annoyance than the effect which it 
had on the minds of the savages, for the enemies of M. de La 
Salle had spread a report among the Islinois that we were 
friends of the Iroquois, who are their greatest enemies. The 
effect this produced will be seen hereafter. 

M. de La Salle commenced building a boat to descend the 

^ The location of the portage from the St. Joseph to the Kankakee — the 
southern branch of the lUinois — has been found by recent investigations of local 
historians to be above the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana. 

* A cache was a kind of underground storehouse used by Indians and woods- 
men to conceal provisions and goods. 

' This date should be January 3, 1680; probably it is given according to 
an earlier method, that made the year begin March 1 instead of January 1. 

^ Early commentators supposed that the fort received its name, Creve- 
cceur (heartbreak), from the distressing circumstances of the leader of the ex- 
pedition. It is now thought to have been named for a fortress in the Nether- 
lands captured by Turenne, in July, 1672. 



290 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1680 

river. He sent a Recollect Father with the Sieur Acau^ 
to explore the nation of the Sioux,^ 400 leagues from the 
Islinois, toward the north, on the Mississipy River, a river 
that runs not less than 800 leagues to the sea without rapids, 
and having determined to go himself by land to Fort Fron- 
tenac, because he had heard nothing of the bark which he had 
sent to Niagara, he gave me the command of this place and 
left us on the 22d of March with five men. On his road he 
met with two men, whom he had sent in the autumn to Mis- 
silimakinak to obtain news of his bark. They assured him 
that it had not come down, and he therefore determined to 
continue his journey.^ These two men were sent to me with 
orders to go to the old village to visit a rock and to build a 
strong fort upon it.^ 

Whilst I was absent all my men deserted. They took away 
everything that was finest and most valuable, and left me with 
two Recollects and three Frenchmen, newly arrived from 
France, stripped of everything and at the mercy of the sav- 
ages.^ All that I could do was to draw up an authentic ac- 
count of the affair and send it to M. de La Salle. He lay in 
wait for them on Lake Frontenac, took some of them and 
killed the others. After this he returned towards the Islinois. 
As for his bark, it has never been heard ^of.^ 

^ Michel Accault, the leader of the expedition of three to the Sioux country, 
was a native of Poitiers. He was captured by the Sioux, rescued by Duluth, 
and settled permanently in Illinois, where he married a woman of the Illinois 
tribe. The Recollect was Louis Hennepin, for whom see p. 287, note 3, ante. 

2 The country of the Sioux was about the headwaters of the Mississippi 
and westward. For its discovery and exploration, see the succeeding narrative 
of Duluth. 

3 This winter journey of La Salle, overland through northern Illinois, In- 
diana, southern Michigan, southern Ontario to the fort at Niagara is proof of 
the tremendous determination and physical endurance of the explorer. 

*This rock, known tlu-oughout the French regime as "Le Rocher," is 
situated on the southern bank of the Illinois, not far from the village of Utica. 
It is locally known as "Starved Rock." 

* While Tonty had gone to survey the site for the new fort, his men de- 
stroyed Fort Crevecoeiu', stole the ammunition and goods, and left in writing the 
statement, "We are all savages." The two friars with Tonty were Gabriel 
de La Ribourde and Zenobe Membre. 

« The fate of the Griffin has never been known. Probably it foundered in 
one of the autumn gales. 



1680] TONTY'S MEMOIR 291 

In the meanwhile, the IsHnois were greatly alarmed at 
seeing a party of 600 Iroquois. It was then near the month 
of September. The desertion of our men and the journey of 
M. de La Salle to Fort Frontenac made the savages suspect 
that we were betraying them. They severely reproached me 
respecting the arrival of their enemies. As I was recently 
come from France and was not then acquainted with their 
manners, this embarrassed me and determined me to go to 
the enemy with necklaces^ to tell them that I was surprised 
they had come to make war upon a nation dependent on the 
Governor of New France, and that M. de La Salle, whom he 
esteemed, governed these peoples. An Islinois accompanied 
me, and we separated ourselves from the body of the Islinois, 
who were 400 in number, and were already fighting with the 
enemy. When I was within gun-shot the Iroquois fired a 
great volley at us, which compelled me to tell the Islinois to 
retire. He did so. When I had come up to them, these 
wretches seized me, took the necklace from my hand, and one 
of them, reaching through the crowd, plunged a knife into my 
breast, wounding a rib near the heart. However, having 
recognized me, they carried me into the midst of their camp 
and asked me what I came for. I gave them to understand 
that the Islinois were under the protection of the King of 
France and of the Governor of the country, and that I was 
surprised that they wished to break with the French, and to 
postpone peace. 

All this time skirmishing was going on on both sides, and 
a warrior came to give notice to the chief that their left wing 
was giving way, and that they had recognized some French- 
men among the Islinois, who were shooting at them. On 
this they were greatly irritated against me and held a council 
concerning what they should do with me. There was a man 
behind me with a knife in his hand, who every now and then 
lifted up my hair. They were divided in opinion. Tegancouti, 
chief of the Tsonnontouan, wished positively to have me 
burnt. Agonstot, chief of the Onontagues,^ as a friend of M. 
de La Salle, wished to have me set at liberty. He carried his 
point. They agreed that, in order the better to deceive the 

1 Strings of wampum, which were used by the Indians in peace negotiations. 
"^ The Onondaga tribe of the Iroquois confederacy. 



292 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1680 

Islinois, they should give me a necklace of porcelain beads to 
show to them that they also were children of the Governor, 
and that they all ought to unite and make a good peace. 

They sent me to deliver their message to the Islinois. I 
had much difficulty in reaching them on account of the great 
quantity of blood I had lost, both from my wound and from 
my mouth. On my way I met the Fathers Gabriel de la 
Ribourde and Zenoble Membre, who were coming to look 
after me. They expressed theii' joy that these barbarians had 
not put me to death. We went together to the Islinois, to 
whom I reported the sentiments of the Iroquois, adding, how- 
ever, that they must not altogether trust them. They re- 
tired within their village, but seeing the Iroquois present 
themselves always in battle array they felt obliged to rejoin 
their wives and children, three leagues off. They left us 
there : namely, the two Recollect Fathers, the three French- 
men, and myself. 

The Iroquois made a fort in the village and left us in a 
cabin at some distance from their fort. Two days later, the 
Islinois appearing on the hills near the Iroquois, the Iroquois 
thought that we had had some conference together, which 
led them to bring us inside their fort. They pressed me to 
go and find the Islinois and induce them to come and make 
a treaty of peace. They gave me one of their own nation as 
a hostage. I went with Father Zenobe.^ The Iroquois re- 
mained with the Islinois, and one of the latter came with me. 
When we got to the fort, instead of mending matters, he 
spoilt them entirely by saying to the enemy that they had in 
all only 400 men and that the rest of their young men were 
gone to war, and that if the Iroquois really wished to make 
peace with them they were ready to give them a quantity of 
beaver skins and some slaves which they had. The Iroquois 
called me to them and loaded me with reproaches ; they told 
me that I was a liar to have said that the Islinois had 1,200 
warriors, and several tribes of allies who had given them as- 

1 The name is variously spelled Zenobe, Zenoble, Zenobie. It is the French 
form of the Latin Zenobius; the first spelling is the usual one. Father Zenobe 
Membre accompanied La Salle on his three principal expeditions, was left in the 
dwelling on the coast of Texas (1686), and perished with the remnant of La 
Salle's colony. 



1680] TONTY'S MEMOIR 293 

sistance. Where were the sixty Frenchmen who, I had told 
them, were at the village? I had much difficulty in getting 
out of the scrape. 

The same evening they sent back the Islinois to tell his 
nation to come the next day to within half a league of the 
fort and that they would there conclude the peace, which in 
fact was done, at noon. The Islinois having come to the 
meeting-place, the Iroquois gave them presents of necklaces 
and merchandise. The first necklace signified that the 
Governor of New France was not angry at their having come 
to molest their brothers; the second was addressed to M. de 
La Salle with the same meaning, and by the third, accompanied 
with merchandise, they boimd themselves by oath to a strict 
alliance, that hereafter they should live as brothers. They 
then separated and the Islinois believed, after these presents, 
in the sincerity of the peace, which induced them to come 
several times into the fort of the enemies, where, some Islinois 
chiefs having asked me what I thought, I told them they had 
everything to fear, that there was among these barbarians no 
good faith, and that I knew that they were making canoes of 
elm bark and that consequently they were intending to pur- 
sue them, and that they should take advantage of the time 
and retire to some distant nation, for they were most as- 
suredly betrayed. 

The eighth day after their arrival, on the 10th of Sep- 
tember, they called me and Father Zenoble to council, and 
having made us sit down, they placed six packets of beaver 
skins before us and addressing me they said that the two 
first packets were to inform M. de Frontenac that they would 
not eat his children and that he should not be angry at what 
they had done; the third was to serve as a plaster for my 
wound ; the fourth was oil to rub on my own and the Recollect 
father's limbs, on account of the journeys we had taken; 
the fifth, that the sun was bright ; the sixth, that we should 
depart the next day for the French settlements. I asked 
them when they would go away themselves. Murmurs arose 
among them. Some of them answered me that they would 
eat some of the Islinois before they went away ; upon which 
I kicked away their presents, saying that there was no use in 
making presents to me, I would have none of them, since they 



294 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1680 

designed to eat the children of the governor. An Abenakis^ 
who was with them, and who spoke French, told me that the 
men were irritated, and the chiefs rising drove me from the 
comicil. 

We went to our cabin, where we passed the night on our 
guard, resolved to kill some of them before they should kill 
us, for we thought that we should not live out the night. 
However, at daybreak they directed us to depart, which we 
did. After making five leagues in the canoe, we landed to 
dry some peltries, which were wet. While we were repair- 
ing our canoe. Father Gabriel told me he was going aside to 
pray. I advised him not to go away, because we were sur- 
rounded by enemies. He went about 1,000 paces off and was 
taken by forty savages, of the nation called Kikapous, who 
carried hun away and broke his head. Finding that he did 
not return, I went to look for him with one of my men. Hav- 
ing discovered his trail, I found it cut by several others, which 
joined and ended at last in one. 

I brought back this sad news to the Father Zenoble, who 
was greatly grieved at it. Towards evening we made a great 
fire, hoping that perhaps he might return; and we went over 
to the other side of the river, where we kept a good lookout. 
Towards midnight we saw a man appear, and then many others. 

The next day we recrossed the river to look for our equip- 
ment, and after waiting till noon we embarked and reached 
the Lake of the Islinois by short journeys, always hoping to 
meet with the good Father. After having sailed on this lake 
till All Samts' Day we were wrecked, twenty leagues from the 
village of Poutouatamis.^ Our provisions failing us, I left a 
man to take care of our thmgs and went off by land, but, as I 
had a fever constantly on me, and my legs were swollen, 
we did not arrive at the village of Poutouatamis till St. Mar- 
tin's Day.^ During this time we Uved on nothing but wild 
garlic, which we were obliged to grub up from imder the snow. 
When we arrived we found no savages; they had gone to 

1 The Abenaki Indians were from Maine and the eastern provinces of 
Canada. 

2 November 1, 1680. The location of this Potawatomi village is not cer- 
tainly known ; it appears to have been the one on the lake shore mentioned in 
1698 by St. Cosme as being on the eve of abandonment. See p. 344, note 4, post. 

' November 14. 



1680] TONTY'S MEMOIR 295 

their winter quarters. So we were obliged to go into their 
wUds, where we obtained hardly as much as two handfuls 
of Indian corn a day and some frozen gourds, which we piled 
up in a cabin at the water's side. 

Whilst we were gleaning in the wilds, a Frenchman^ 
whom we had left at the cache came to the cabin where we 
had left our little store of provisions. He thought we had 
put them there for him, and therefore did not spare them. 
We were very much surprised, as we were starting off for 
Missilimakinak, to find him in the cabin. He had arrived 
three days before. We had much pleasure in seeing him, 
and much regret to see our provisions partly consumed. We 
did not delay to embark, and after two leagues' sail, the wind 
having arisen offshore, I came to land. We saw a fresh trail 
and I directed that it should be followed. It was that of 
the Poutouatamis village, who had made a portage to the 
Bay of the Puans. The next day, weak as we were, we carried 
our little canoe and all our things into this bay, to which there 
is a league of portage.^ We embarked in a creek called 
Sturgeon Creek, and turned to the right at hazard, not know- 
ing where to go. After sailing for a league we found the 
same number of cabins, which led us to expect soon to find 
the savages. 

Five leagues from this place we were stopped by the 
wind for a week, which compelled us to consume the few 
provisions we had collected together, and we were without 
anything. At last we held a council to see what we should 
do, and despairing of bemg able to come up with the savages, 
every one asked to return to the village, since there was wood 
there, so that we might die w^arm. The wdnd lulling, we em- 
barked and set off. On entering Sturgeon's Creek we saw a 
fire and went to it. It was made by savages, who had just 
gone away. We thought they were gone to their village and 
determined to go there, but the creek having frozen in the 
night, we could not proceed in our canoe. W^e made shoes of 

^ Sieur de Boisrondet, one of Tonty's party who had been lost for several 
days. 

^ The Sturgeon Bay portage, across Door County peninsula, Wisconsin. 
It is now cut by a canal. See Marquette's journey across this portage, p. 263, 
aiUe. 



296 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1681 

the late Father Gabriel's cloak, havuig no leather. We were 
to have started in the morning. One of my men being very 
ill from having eaten some pare-flesche/ in the evening, 
as I was urging our starting two Outawas savages came up, 
who led us to where the Poutouatamis were. We found some 
Frenchmen there, who received us kindly. I spent the winter 
with them, and Father Zenoble left us to pass the winter with 
the Jesuit fathers at the end of the bay.^ 

When I left this place in the spring for Missilimakinak 
we had hardly recovered from the miseries which we had 
suffered from hunger and cold during thirty-four days. We 
reached Missilimakinak about Corpus Christi in 1680.^ M. de 
La Salle arrived some time afterw^ards, on his w^ay to seek us 
at the Illinois, with M. de La Forest.^ He was very glad 
to see us again, and notwithstanding all reverses, we made 
new preparations to continue the exploration which he had 
undertaken. I therefore embarked with him for Fort Fron- 
tenac, to bring things that we should need for the expedition. 
Father Zenoble accompanied us thither. When we came to 
Lake Frontenac, M. de La Salle went forward, and I waited 
for his boat at the village of Teyagon.^ When it arrived 
there I embarked for the Islinois. When we came to the 
Miamis River I assembled some Frenchmen and savages for 
the exploration, and M. de La Salle joined us in December. 

We went in canoes to the River Chicaou, where there is a 
portage which joins that of the Islinois. The rivers being fro- 
zen we made sledges and dragged our baggage to a point thirty 
leagues below the village of Islinois, and there, finding the 
navigation open, we arrived at the end of January at the River 

^ Dried meat or leather. 

2 At the mission of St. Francois Xavier, at the site of De Pere, Wisconsin. 
This mission was established by Father Claude Allouez. See pp. 142-146, ante. 

3 1681. In that year Corpus Christi fell on June 5. 

* La Salle had just come from the Illinois, where he had been to seek Tonty 
and his men, and found only the ruins of the fort, and the destruction caused by 
the Iroquois. In great desolation he retraced his way to Mackinac, thei'e to be 
cheered by finding Tonty and a few of his men safe and well. 

Guillaume de La Forest had commanded for La Salle at Fort Frontenac. 
He later became Tonty's partner at Fort St. Louis in Illinois. In 1710 he was 
commandant at Detroit, where he died four years later. 

5 La Salle on this journey took the Toronto portage. The village where 
he left Tonty was probably on an island in Lake Simcoe. 



1682] TONTY'S MEMOIR 297 

Mississipy.^ The distance from Chicaou is estimated at 140 
leagues. We descended this river and found, six leagues 
below, on the right, a great river, which comes from the west. 
There are numerous nations above. We slept at its mouth. 
The next day we went on to the village of the Tamaroas, six 
leagues off on the left.^ There was no one there, all the 
people being at their winter quarters in the woods. We made 
our marks to inform the savages that we had passed, and con- 
tinued our route as far as the River Ouabache, which is eighty 
leagues from that of the Islinois. It comes from the east 
and is more than 500 leagues in length. It is by this river 
that the Iroquois advance to make war against the nations 
of the south. Continuing our voyage, we came to a place, 
about sixty leagues from there, which was named Fort Prud- 
homme, because one of our men, of that name, lost himself 
there when out hunting and was nine days in the woods with- 
out food.^ As they were looking for him they fell in with 
two Chicachas savages, whose village was three days' journey 
from there, in the lands along the Mississipy. They have 
2,000 warriors, the greatest number of whom have flat heads, 
which is considered a beauty among them, the women taking 
pains to flatten the heads of their children, by means of a 
cushion which they put on their foreheads and bind with a 
band to the cradle, and thus make their heads take this form, 
and when they are fat their faces are as big as a large soup- 
plate. All the nations on the seacoast have the same custom.* 
M. de La Salle sent back one of them with presents to his 
village, so that, if they had taken Prudhomme, they might 

1 The boat carrying the exploring party entered the Mississippi from the 
IlHnois, February 6, 1682. 

2 The great river coming from the west was the Missouri. Somewhere 
below it on the Illinois side was the village of the Tamarois, a division of the 
Illinois tribe. The Tamarois afterward removed to the neighborhood of Ca- 
hokia and coalesced with the Cahokia branch of the Illinois Indians. 

2 For the use of the name "Ouabache" for the Ohio River, see p. 250, note 
1, ante. Pierre Prud'homme was the armorer of La Salle's expedition. The 
fort called by his name was located on the Third Chickasaw Bluff, near the pres- 
ent city of Memphis. 

* The custom of intentional deformation of the heads of children was found 
among a few Indian tribes: the Natchez and neighboring tribes near the Gulf 
of Mexico, and a few tribes in the Pacific Northwest. The French called the 
Chickasaw Tetes Plats. 



S98 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1682 

send him back, but we found him on the tenth day, and as 
the Chicachas did not return, we continued our route as far 
as the village of Capa, fifty leagues off. We arrived there 
in foggy weather, and as we heard the beating of the drum 
we crossed over to the other side of the river, where in less 
than half an hour we made a fort. These savages, having 
been informed that we were coming down the river, came in 
their canoes to look for us. We made them land, and sent 
two Frenchmen as hostages to their village. The chief visited 
us with the calumet, and we went to visit them. They re- 
galed us for five days with the best they had, and after having 
danced the calumet to M. de La Salle, they conducted us to 
the village of Tongengan, of their nation, eight leag-ues from 
Capa. These received us in the same manner, and from 
thence they went with us to Toriman, two leagues further on, 
where we met with the same reception.^ 

It should be remarked that these villages, with another 
called Osotouy, which is six leagues to the right descending 
the river, are commonly called Arkansas. The first three 
villages are situated on the Great River. M. de La Salle 
erected the arms of the king there. They have cabins made 
with the bark of cedar; they have no worship, adoring all 
sorts of animals. Their coimtry is very beautiful, having 
abundance of peach, plum, and apple trees. Vines flourish 
there. Buffaloes, deer, stags, bears, turkeys, are very numer- 
ous. They even have domestic fowls. They have veiy little 
snow during the winter, and the ice is not thicker than an 
ecu."^ They gave^us guides to conduct us to their allies, the 
Taensas, sixty leagues distant.^ 

The first day we began to see and to kill alligators, which 

1 "Cappa" was the village visited by Marquette and Jolliet in 1673, that 
formed the extent of their voyage. See p. 254, note 1, ante. The other two 
villages were neighboring residences of the Quapaw tribe. 

2 The coin he had in mind was most likely the three-livre piece, nearly as 
large as an American silver dollar. 

2 The Taensa was a small tribe closely allied in language and customs to 
the Natchez. La Salle was the first of the French explorers to visit their village. 
See account of the mission established for this tribe in Introduction to St. 
Cosme's Narrative, p. 339, 'post. The French commandants of Louisiana had vari- 
ous dealings with this tribe, and in 1764 the Taensa removed to Red River 
rather than become subject to the English. About the close of the eighteenth 
century they merged with other tribes. 



1682] TONTY'S MEMOIR 299 

are numerous, and from fifteen to twenty feet long. When 
we had arrived opposite to the village of the Taengas, M. de 
La Salle ordered me to go to it and inform the chief of his 
arrival. I went with our guides. We had to carry a bark 
canoe for ten arpents, and to launch it on a small lake^ on 
which their village was placed. I was surprised to find their 
cabins made of mud and covered with cane mats. The cabin 
of the chief was forty feet square, the wall about ten feet high 
and a foot thick, and the roof, which was of a dome shape, 
about fifteen feet high. I was not less surprised when, on en- 
tering, I saw the chief seated on a camp bed, with three of his 
wives at his side, surrounded by more than sixty old men, 
clothed in large white cloaks, which are made by the women 
out of the bark of the mulberry tree, and are tolerably well 
worked. The women were clothed m the same manner, and 
every time the chief spoke to them, before answering him, they 
howled and cried out several times — "Oh! Oh! Oh!" — to 
show their respect for him, for their chiefs are held in as much 
consideration as our kings. No one drinks out of the chief's 
cup, nor eats out of his dishes; no one passes before him; 
when he walks they clean the path before him. When he 
dies they sacrifice his principal wife, his principal house- 
steward, and a hundred men of the nation, to accompany him 
into the other world. 

They have a form of worship, and adore the sun. They 
have a temple opposite the house of the chief, and similar to 
it, except that three eagles are placed on this temple who 
look towards the rising sun. The temple is surrounded with 
strong mud walls, in which are fixed spikes on which they 
place the heads of their enemies whom they sacrifice to the 
sun. At the door of the temple is a block of wood, on which 
is a great shell plaited round with the hair of their enemies in 
a plait as thick as an arm and about twenty fathoms long. 
The inside of the temple is bare ; there is an altar in the mid- 
dle, and at the foot of the altar three logs of wood are placed 
end to end, and a fire is kept up day and night by two old med- 
icine-men, who are the directors of their worship. These old 
men showed me a small cabinet in the middle of the wall, made 
of mats of cane. When I wished to see what was inside, the 

^ Lake St. Joseph, in Tensas Parish, Louisiana. 



300 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1682 

old men prevented me, giving me to understand that their 
God was there ; but I have since learnt that it is the place 
where they keep all their treasure, such as fine pearls which 
they fish up in the neighborhood, and European merchandise. 

At the last quarter of each moon all the cabins make an 
offering of a dish of the best food they have, which is placed 
at the door of the temple. The old men take care to carry 
it away and to make a good feast of it with their families. 
Every spring they make a clearing, which they name "the 
field of the spirit," where all the men work to the sound of the 
drum. In the autumn the Indian com of this field is har- 
vested with ceremony and stored in magazines until the moon 
of June in the following year, when all the village assemble, 
and invite their neighbors to the feast to eat it. They do not 
leave the ground until they have eaten it all, making great 
rejoicings the whole time. This is all I learnt of this nation. 
The three villages below have the same customs. 

Let us return to the chief. When I was in his cabin he 
told me with a smiling countenance the pleasure he felt at 
the arrival of the French. I saw that one of his wives wore 
a pearl necklace. I presented her with ten yards of blue 
glass beads in exchange for it. She made some difficulty, 
but the chief having told her to let me have it, she did so. 
I carried it to M. de La Salle, giving him an account of all 
that I had seen and told him that the chief intended to visit 
him the next day — which he did. He would not have done 
this for savages, but the hope of obtaining some merchandise 
induced him to act thus. He came the next day to our cabins, 
to the sound of the drum and the music of the women, who 
had embarked in wooden canoes. The savages of the river 
use no other boats than these. M. de La Salle received him 
with much politeness, and gave him some presents ; they gave 
us, in return, plenty of provisions and some of their robes. 
The chief returned well satisfied. We stayed during the day, 
which was the 21st of March. We took an observation and 
found ourselves at 31 degrees of latitude.^ 

We left on the 22nd, and slept on an island ten leagues 
from there. The next day we saw a canoe. M. de La Salle 

1 This observation was more than a degree out of the way, the true lati- 
tude being somewhat more than 32 . 



1682] TONTY'S MEMOIR 301 

ordered me to chase it, which I did, and when I was just on 
the point of taking it, more than 100 men appeared on the 
banks of the river, with bows bent, to defend their people. 
M. de La Salle shouted to me to come back, which I did. 
We went on and encamped opposite them. Afterwards, M. 
de La Salle expressing to me a wish to meet them peacefully, 
I offered to carry to them the calumet. I embarked, and 
crossed to the other side. At first they joined their hands, 
as a sign that they wished to be friends ; I, who had but one 
hand, told our men to do the same thing. 

1 made the chief men among them cross over to M. de 
La Salle, who accompanied them to their village, three leagues 
inland, and passed the night there with some of his men. 
The next day he returned with the chief of the village where 
he had slept, who was a brother of the great chief of the 
Nache ; he conducted us to his brother's village, situated on 
a hill-side near the river, at six leagues distance.^ We were 
very well received there. This nation counts more than 
3,000 warriors. These men cultivate the ground as well as 
hunt, and they fish as well as the Taensa, and their customs 
are the same. We departed thence on Good Friday, and 
after a voyage of twenty leagues, encamped at the mouth of a 
large river, which comes in from the west.^ We continued 
our journey, and crossed a great canal, which went towards 
the sea on the right. 

Thirty leagues further on we saw some fishermen on the 
bank of the river, and sent to reconnoitre them. It was 
the village of the Quinipissa, who let fly arrows upon our 
scouts, who retired in consequence, as ordered.^ As M. de 
La Salle did not wish to fight against any nation, he made us 
embark. Twelve leagues from this vUlage, on the left, we 
found that of the Tangibao.^ Not a week before, this vil- 

^The village of the Natchez Indians at the time of La Salle's voyage is 
thought to have been about three miles from the present city of that name upon 
St. Catherine's Creek, 

2 Red River. Good Friday in 1682 fell on March 27. 

^ The Quinipissa were a tribe of Choctaw, found in St. Charles Parish not 
far above New Orleans. They are identical with the Acolapissa, among whom 
Iberville found a letter that Tonty on his second voyage had left for La Salle. 

* The Tangipahoa were a tribe (now extinct) related to the Creek Indians. 
Their name is perpetuated in a river and parish north of Lake Pontehartrain. 



302 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1682 

lage had been totally destroyed. Dead bodies were lying 
one on another and the cabins were burnt. We proceeded 
on our course, and after going forty leagues, arrived at the 
sea on the 7th of April. 

M. de La Salle sent canoes to inspect the channels. Some 
went to the channel on the right hand, some to the left, and 
M. de La Salle chose that in the centre. In the evening each 
made his report, that is to say, that the channels were very 
fine, wide, and deep. We encamped on the right bank, 
erected the arms of the King, and returned several times to 
inspect the channels. The same report was made. 

This river is 800 leagues long, without rapids, to wit, 400 
from the coimtry of the Sioux, and 400 from the mouth of 
the Islinois River to the sea. The banks are almost unin- 
habitable, on account of the spring floods. The woods are 
chiefly poplar, the country one of canes and briars and of trees 
torn up by the roots ; but a league or two from the river, 
is the most beautiful country in the world, prairies, open 
woods of mulberry trees, vines, and fruits that we are not 
acquainted with. The savages gather the Indian corn twice 
in the year. In the lower course of the river, the part which 
might be settled, is where the river makes a course north and 
south, for there, in many places, every now and then it has 
bluffs on the right and left. 

The river is only navigable for ships as far as the village 
of Nadesche, for above that place the river winds too much ; 
but this would not prevent one's setting out from the country 
above with pirogues and flatboats, to proceed from the Oua- 
bache to the sea. There are but few beavers, but to make 
amends, there is a large number of buffaloes or bears, large 
wolves, stags, siholas,^ hinds, and roe deer in abundance ; and 
some lead mines, with less than one-third refuse. As these 
savages are stationaiy, and have some habits of subordina- 
tion, they might be obliged to make silk in order to procure 
necessaries for themselves, if the eggs of silkworms were 
brought to them from France, for the forests are full of mul- 
berry trees. This would be a valuable trade. 

As for the country of the Islinois, the river runs 100 leagues 
from Fort St. Louis, to where it falls into the Mississipy. 

1 Cibola {sihola) was the Spanish term for the buffalo. 



1682] TONTY'S MEMOIR 303 

It may be said to contain the finest lands ever seen. The 
climate is the same as that of Paris, though in the 40th degree 
of latitude. The savages there are quick, agile, and brave, 
but extremely lazy, except in war, when they think nothing 
of seeking their enemies at a distance of 500 or 600 leagues 
from their own country. This they constantly show in the 
country of the Iroquois, whom, at my instigation, they con- 
tinually harass. Not a year passes in which they do not 
take a number of prisoners and scalps. 

A few pieces of pure copper, whose origin we have not yet 
sought, are found in the river of the Islinois. Polygamy 
prevails in this nation, and is one of the great hindrances to 
the introduction of Christianity, with the fact of their having 
no form of worship of their own. The nations lower down 
would be more easily converted, because they adore the sun, 
which is their sole divinity. This is all that I am able to 
relate of those parts. 

Let us return to the sea coast, where, provisions failing, 
we were obliged to leave sooner than we wished, in order to 
seek provisions in the neighboring villages. We did not 
know how to get anything from the village of the Quinipissa, 
who had received us badly as we went down the river. We 
hved on potatoes until six leagues from their village, when we 
saw smoke. M. de La Salle went to reconnoitre at night. 
Our people reported that they had seen some women. We 
went there at daybreak and taking four of the women, en- 
camped on the other bank, opposite their village. One of the 
women was sent with merchandise, to show this tribe that we 
had no evil design against them and wished for their alliance 
and for provisions. She made her report. One of them came 
immediately and invited us to encamp on the other bank, 
which we did. We sent back the three other women, keep- 
ing, however, constant guard. They brought us some pro- 
visions in the evening, and the next morning, at daybreak, the 
scoundrels attacked us. 

We vigorously repulsed them, and by ten o'clock had 
smashed their canoes, and, but for the fear of using up our 
ammunition for the future, we should have attacked their 
village. We left in the evening in order to reach the village 
of the Naches where we had left a quantity of grain as we 



304 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHW^EST [1682 

passed down. When we arrived there the chief came out to 
meet us. M. de La Salle made them a present of the scalps 
we had taken from the Quinipissa. They had already heard 
the news, for they had resolved to betray and kill us. We 
went up to their village armed, and, as we saw no women 
there, we had no doubt of their having some evil design. 
In a moment we were surrounded by more than 1,500 men. 
They brought us something to eat, and we ate with our guns 
in our hands. As they are afraid of firearms, they did not 
dare to attack us. The chief of the nation begged M. de La 
Salle to go away, as his young men had not much sense, 
which we very willingly did — the game not being equal, we 
havmg only fifty men, French and savages. We then went 
on to the Taenga, and then to the Alvansas, where we were 
very well received. 

From thence we came to Fort Prudhomme, where M. de 
La Salle fell dangerously ill, which obliged him to send me 
forward, with five others, to arrange his affairs at Missil- 
imakinak. In passing toward the Ouabache, I found four Iro- 
quois, who told us that there were 100 men of their nation 
coming on after them. This gave us some alarm, for there 
is no pleasure in meeting warriors on one's road, especially 
when they have been unsuccessful. I left them and at about 
twenty leagues from the Tamaroas, we saw smoke. I ordered 
our people to prepare their arms, and we resolved to advance, 
expecting to meet the Iroquois. When we were near the 
smoke, we saw some canoes, which made us think that they 
could only be Islinois or Tamaroas. They were in fact the 
latter. As soon as they saw us, they came out of the wood in 
great numbers to attack us, taking us for Iroquois. 

I presented the calumet to them. They laid down their 
arms and conducted us to their village without doing us any 
harm. The chiefs held a council, and, taking us for Iroquois, 
had already resolved to burn us; and, but for some Islinois 
who were among them, we should have fared ill. They let us 
proceed. We arrived about the end of June,^ at the River 
Chicacou, and, by the middle of July, at Missilimakinak. 
M. de La Salle, having recovered, joined us in September. 
Resolving to go to France, he ordered me to go and collect 

1 1682. 



1684] TONTY'S MEMOIR 305 

together the French who were on the River Miamis to con- 
struct the Fort of St. Louis in the Islinois. I left with this 
design, and when I arrived at the place, M. de La Salle, hav- 
ing changed his mind, joined me. They set to work at the 
fort, and it was finished in March, 1683. 

During the winter I gave all the nations notice of what 
we had done to defend them from the Iroquois, at whose 
hands they had lost 700 people in the preceding years. They 
approved of our good intentions, and established themselves, 
to the number of 300 lodges, at the Fort — Islinois and Miamis 
and Chaouanons.^ 

M. de La Salle departed for France in the month of Sep- 
tember, leaving me to command the fort. He met on his 
way the Chevalier de Bogis, whom M. de La Barre^ had 
sent with letters ordering M. de La Salle to Quebec. He had 
no trouble in getting him to make the journey, as he found 
him on the road. M. de La Salle wrote to me to receive M. 
de Bogis well, which I did. 

The winter passed, and on the 20th of March, 1684, being 
informed that the Iroquois were about to attack us, we pre- 
pared to receive them well, and dispatched a canoe to M. de 
La Durantaye, governor of Missilimakinak,^ to ask him for 
assistance, in case the enemy should hold out against us a 
long time. The savages appeared on the 21st. We repulsed 
them with loss. After six days' siege they retired with some 
slaves which they had made in the neighborhood, who after- 
wards escaped and came back to the fort. 

M. de La Durantaye, with Father Daloy,^ a Jesuit, ar- 
rived at the fort with about sixty Frenchmen, whom they were 
bringing to our assistance, and, more particularly, to inform 

1 This concentration of Indian tribes had an important influence on aborig- 
inal geography and economy. The various villages clustered around Fort St. 
Louis are located on Franquelin's "Map of Louisiana" of 1684. 

^Antoine Le Febvre de La Barre superseded Count Frontenac in 1682 as 
governor-general of New France. He reversed as far as possible all the plans of 
the latter, and replaced La Salle's men with his own officers, one of whom was 
Chevalier de Baugis (Bogis). The latter was recalled after a year in Illinois. 

^ Olivier Morel, Sieur de La Durantaye, came to Canada as officer in the 
Carignan regiment in 1665. He commanded in the Northwest 1683-1690; he 
died in 1717. 

* Father Claude Allouez, for whom see anie. 



306 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1685 

me of the orders of M. de La Barre, to leave the place, and 
that M. de Bogis was in possession of a place belonging to M, 
de La Salle. I obeyed orders, and went to Montreal, and thence 
to Quebec, where M. de La Forest, who had accompanied M. 
de La Salle to France, retm-ned by order of M. de La Salle 
with a lettre de cachet, by which M. de La Barre was directed 
to deliver up to M. de La Forest the lands belonging to the 
Sieur de La Salle, and which were occupied by others to his 
prejudice. 

As he brought me news that M. de La Salle was sailing by 
way of the islands to find the mouth of the Mississipy, and 
had at court obtained a company^ for me, and sent me orders 
to go and command at Fort St. Louis, as captam of foot, and 
governor, we took our measures together, and formed a com- 
pany of 20,000 livres to maintain the fort. 

M. de La Forest went away in the autumn, for Fort Fron- 
tenac, and I began my journey to the Islinois. Being stopped 
by the ice, however, I was obliged to halt at Montreal, where 
I passed the winter. M. de La Forest arrived there in the 
spring. We took new measures. He embarked for Fort 
Frontenac, and I for the Islinois, where I arrived in June.^ 
M. le Chevalier de Bogis retired, according to the orders that 
I brought him from M. de La Barre. 

The Miamis having seriously defeated the Islinois, it 
cost us 1,000 dollars in presents to reconcile these two nations, 
which I did not accomplish without great trouble. In the 
autumn I embarked for Missilimakinak, in order to obtain 
news of M. de La Salle. I heard there that M. le Marquis de 
Denonville^ had succeeded M. de La Barre ; and by a letter 
which he did me the honor to write to me, he expressed his 
wish to see me, that we might take measures for the war 
against the Iroquois, and informed me that M. de La Salle 
was engaged in seeking the mouth of the Mississipy in the 

1 La Salle secured a commission for Tonty as captain of a company in the 
colonial troops. 

2 1685. 

3 Jacques Rene de Brisay, Marquis Denonville, was governor of Canada 
from 1685 to 1689. His well-known expedition of 1687 against the Iroquois 
was only a partial success, and led to fresh hostilities in 1689, which forced 
Denonville's retirement, and the return of Frontenac. 



1686] TONTY'S MEMOIR 307 

Gulf of Mexico. This made me resolve to go in search of him 
and aid him, with a number of Canadians that I should take 
to him, and as soon as I should have found him, to return 
to execute the orders of M. de Denonville. 

I embarked, therefore, for the Islmois, on St. Andrew's 
Day,^ but, being stopped by the ice, I was obliged to leave my 
canoe and to proceed by land. After gomg 120 leagues I 
arrived at the Fort of Chicacou, where M. de La Durantaye 
commanded; and from thence I came to Fort St. Louis, where 
I arrived in the middle of January, 1685. ^ I departed thence 
on the 16th of Februaiy, with thirty Frenchmen and five 
Islinois and Chaouanons for the sea, which I reached in Holy 
Week,^ after having passed the tribes described above, by 
whom I was very well received. I sent out one canoe towards 
the coast of Mexico, and another towards Carolina, to see if 
they could discover anything. They each sailed about thirty 
leagues, in either direction, but were obliged to stop for want 
of fresh water. They reported to me that where they had 
been the land began to rise. They brought me a porpoise 
and some oysters. As it would take us five months to reach 
the French settlements, I proposed to my men, that if they 
would trust me, we should follow the coast as far as Menade, 
and that by this means we should arrive shortly at Montreal, 
declaring that we should not lose our time, because we might 
discover some fine country and might even take some prize 
on our way.'* Part of my men were willing to adopt my plan, 
but the rest were opposed to it, so I decided to return the way 
I came. 

The tide does not rise more than two feet perpendicularly 
on the sea coast ; the land is very low at the entrance of the 
river. We encamped in the place where M. de La Salle had 
erected the arms of the King. As they had been thrown down 
by the floods, I took them five leagues farther up, and placed 
them in a higher situation. I put a silver ecu^ in the hollow 
of a tree to serve as a mark of time and place. We left this 

^ November 30, 1685. ^ Meaning 1686. ' April 7-14. 

* It was a daring plan conceived by Tonty to skirt the coast all the way to 
New York (Menade or Manhattan Island) in the small canoes used for river and 
lake transportation. 

' See p. 298, note 2, ante. 



308 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1687 

place on Easter Monday. When we came opposite the 
Quinipissa Village, the chiefs brought me the calumet and 
declared the sorrow they felt at the treachery they had per- 
petrated against us on our first voyage. I made an alliance 
with them. 

Forty leagues higher up, on the right, we discovered an 
inland village, with whom we also made an alliance. These 
are the Ouma,^ the bravest savages of the river. When we 
were at Akansas, ten of the Frenchmen who accompanied me 
asked for settlements on the River Akansas, on a seigniory 
that M. de La Salle had given me on our first voyage. I 
granted the request to some of them. They remained there 
and built a house surrounded with stakes. ^ The rest ac- 
companied me to the Islinois, in order to get what they wanted. 
I arrived there on St. John's Day.^ I made two chiefs of the 
Islinois embark with me in my canoe, to go and receive the 
orders of M. de Denonville, and we arrived at Montreal by 
the end of July. 

1 left that place at the beginning of September to return 
to the Islinois. I came there in December, and I directly 
sent some Frenchmen to our savage allies to declare war 
against the Iroquois, inviting them to assemble in good sea- 
son at the fort. They did so in the month of April, 1686.'* 
The Sieur de La Forest was already gone in a canoe with thirty 
Frenchmen, and he was to wait for me at Detroit till the end 
of May. I gave our savages a dog feast, and after having 
declared to them the will of the King and of the Governor of 
New France, I set out on April 17 with sixteen Frenchmen and 
a guide of the Miami nation. 

We encamped half a league from the fort, to wait for the 
savages who might wish to follow us. I left twenty French- 
men at the fort and the Sieur de Bellefontaine to command 
there during my absence. Fifty Chaouanons, four Loups, and 

^ This is a tribe of the Choctaw nation, usually known as the Huma. Ap- 
parently La Salle, in 1682, had passed their village without seeing it. 

2 Thus was founded the oldest existing French settlement in the Missis- 
sippi Valley. It was later known as Aux Arcs, although technically named the 
fort and mission of St. Etienne. The Americans called it Arkansas Post. It is 
on the Arkansas River in the present Arkansas County. 

» June 24, 1686. « This should be 1687. 



1687] TONTY'S MEMOIR 309 

seven Miamis came to join me at night ; and the next day- 
more than 300 Islinois came, but they went back again, 
with the exception of 149, This did not prevent me from con- 
tinuing my route ; and after 200 leagues of journey by land, 
we came, on the 19th of May, to Fort Detroit. We there 
made some canoes of elm wood. I sent one of them to Fort 
St. Joseph, which was at the harbor of Detroit, thirty leagues 
from where we were, to give Sieur Dulud, the commander 
of this fort, information of my arrival.^ The Sieur de Beau- 
vais de Tilly, his lieutenant, joined me, and afterwards the 
Sieur de La Forest, then the Sieurs de La Durantaye and Du- 
lud. I made the French and the savages line up along the 
road, and, after the Sieur de La Durantaye had saluted us, 
we returned the salute. They had with them 300 English, 
whom they had taken on Lake Huron, who had come there to 
trade.^ It was the Sieur de La Durantaye who commanded 
the party that captured them. We made more canoes, and 
coasted along Lake Erie to Niagara, where we made a fort 
below the portage to wait there for news. On our way we 
took thirty more Englishmen, who were going to Missili- 
makinak, commanded by Major Gregoire,^ who was bring- 
ing back some Huron and Outawas slaves taken by the Iro- 
quois. Had it not been for these two strokes of good luck 
our affairs would have turned out badly, as we were at war 
with the Iroquois, and the English, from the great quantity 
of brandy and merchandise which they had with them, would 
have gained over our allies, and thus we should have had all 
the savages and the English upon us at once. 

1 sent the Sieur de La Forest to inform M. the Marquis 

^ Fort St. Joseph, located about where Fort Gratiot now stands, was built 
by Daniel Greysolon, Sieur Duluth, in 1686. During the winter of 1687-1688 it 
was commanded by Baron Lahontan, who destroyed it in August, 1688. For 
Duluth, see the following narrative. 

2 A company of English and Dutch traders from Albany had been assured 
by the Iroquois that the tribesmen at Mackinac were ready to secede from the 
French alliance. The capture of their caravan was of immense importance to 
the trade of Canada. 

^ Major Patrick Macgregory, a Scottish immigrant to Maryland (1684), 
who entered the fur-trade at Albany. After release from captivity (1688) he 
was killed in Leisler's revolt (1691). See Charles M. Andrews, Narratives of the 
Insurrections (Original Narratives Series), p. 248. 



310 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1687 

de Denonville of everything. He was at Fort Frontenac, 
and he joined us at Fort des Sables.^ The large boat coming, 
and bringing us provisions, the Marquis sent us word by it 
that he expected to arrive by the 10th of July at the Marsh, 
which is seven leagues from the Sonnontouans. 

The Poutouatamis, Hurons, and Outawas joined us there, 
and built some canoes. There was an Iroquois slave among 
the Hurons. Because of some foolish words he spoke of the 
French I proposed to have him put to death. They paid no 
attention to my proposal, and, twelve leagues on our march, 
he ran away and gave our enemies information of our ap- 
proach, and of the marks which our savages bore, which did 
us great harm in the ambuscade, as will be seen. 

On the 10th we arrived at the marsh of Fort des Sables, 
and the army from below arrived at the same time. I re- 
ceived orders to take possession of a certain position, which 
I did with my company and savages. We then set about 
building a fort. On the 11th I went with fifty men to recon- 
noitre the road, three leagues from camp. On the 12th the 
fort was finished, and we set off for the village. On the 13th, 
half a league from the clearing, we found an ambuscade. 
My company, who were the advance guard, forced it. We 
lost there seven men, of whom my lieutenant was one, and 
two of my people.^ We were occupied for seven days in 
cutting down the com of four villages. We returned to Fort 
des Sables, then embarked, and went to build a fort at 
Niagara.^ 

From thence I was going back to Fort St. Louis with my 
cousin, the Sieur Dulud, who was returning to his post with 
eighteen soldiers and some savages. Having made half the 
portage, which is two leagues in length, as we were about to 
make the rest, some Hurons who were at the rear, perceived 
some Iroquois. They came and gave us warning. There 
were only forty of us, and we thought the enemy strong. We 
agreed to fall back with our ammunition towards the fort and 

1 A temporary post at the mouth of Irondequoit River, New York. 

^ This Seneca ambuscade occurred west and north of the present site of 
Victor, New York. The French loss was much greater than Tonty mentions; 
he enumerates only the losses in his own division. 

' This fort was a temporary structure at the mouth of Niagara River. 



1688] TONTY'S MEMOIR 311 

get an escort. We marched all night, and as the Sieur Dulud 
could not leave his detachment, he begged me to go to the 
Marquis, while he placed himself in ambush in a veiy good 
position. I embarked, and when I came to the fort, the 
Marquis was reluctant to give me any men, inasmuch as the 
militia had gone away and he had only some infantry remain- 
ing to escort him ; however, he sent a captain named Clement 
de Valrenne and fifty men to support us. He stayed at the 
portage whilst we crossed it. We embarked, and when clear 
of the land we perceived the Iroquois on the banks of the lake. 
We crossed Lake Erie, and I left the Sieur Dulud at his post 
at Detroit, and went on from there in company with the 
Reverend Father Gravier^ as far as Missilimakinak, and 
thence on to Fort St. Louis. 

There I found M. Cavelier, a priest, his nephew, and the 
Reverend Father Anastatius, a Recollect, and two men. 
They concealed from me the assassination of M. de La Salle ; 
and upon their assuring me that he had remained at the Gulf 
of Mexico in good health, I received them as if they had been 
M. de La Salle himself, and lent them more than 700 francs. 
M. Cavelier, brother of M. de La Salle, departed in the spring, 
1687, to give an account of his voyage at court.^ M. de La 
Forest came here in the autumn, and went away in the fol- 
lowing spring. 

On the 7th of September, one named Couture^ brought to 
me two Akansas, who danced the calumet to me, and informed 
me of the death of M. de La Salle, with all the circumstances 
which they had heard from the lips of M. Cavelier, who had 
fortunately discovered a house I had built at the Akansas, 
where the said Couture had stayed with three Frenchmen. 
The former told me that the fear of not obtaining from me 

^Jacques Gravier, a Jesuit recently arrived in New France. In 1688 he 
succeeded Allouez in the Illinois mission, where he served many years. 

^Jean Cavelier, a Sulpitian priest, accompanied his brother. La Salle, on 
his last fateful expedition to the mouth of the Mississippi. After the latter's 
assassination in March, 1687, Cavelier with his young nephew. Father Anastase 
Douay, Henri Joutel, and Tessier, the pilot, made his way to Fort St. Louis, 
and ultimately to France. Cavelier and his company passed the winter of 1687- 
1688 at Fort St. Louis, and left in the spring of 1688. 

^ Couture was from Rouen, a carpenter by trade. He came to Illinois in 
1683 with Baugis, and formed the Arkansas settlement in 1686. 



312 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1689 

what he desired had made him conceal the death of his brother, 
of which he had told them. 

M. Cavelier had told me that the Cadadoquis had one day- 
proposed to accompany him if he would go and fight against 
the Spaniards.^ He had objected that there were only four- 
teen Frenchmen. They replied that their nation was numer- 
ous, that they only wanted a few musqueteers, that the 
Spaniards had much money, of which they would be the 
masters; that, as for themselves, they only wished to keep 
the women and children as slaves. Then Couture told me 
that a young man whom M. Cavelier had left at the Akansas 
had assured him that this was true. Not wishing to under- 
take anything without the consent of the Governor of Canada, 
I sent the said Couture to the French remaining at Nicon- 
diche,^ to get all the information he could. He set off, and 
at 100 leagues from the fort was wrecked and, having lost 
everything, returned. 

In the interval M. de Denonville directed me to let the 
savages do as they liked, and to do nothing against the Iro- 
quois, and informed me that war was declared against Spain. 
This caused me to resolve to go to the Naodiches, to execute 
what M. Cavelier had not ventured to undertake, and to bring 
back M. de La Salle's men, who had remained on the sea coast 
not knowing of the misfortune that had befallen him. I set 
off on the 3d of December, and joined my cousin, who was gone 
on before, and who was to accompany me, as he expected that 
M. de La Forest would come and take the command in my 
absence; but as he did not come I sent my cousin back to 
command the fort. 

1 bought a boat larger than my own. We embarked five 
Frenchmen, one Chaouanon, and two slaves. We arrived 
on the 17th at a village of the Islinois at the mouth of their 

* The Kadohadacho (Cadadoquis) were the principal tribe of the Caddo, 
who were the northern confederacy of the southern division of the Caddoan 
stock. Their village was located on Red River, not far from the present Texar- 
kana. For the Spaniards in this region during La Salle's time see Texas His- 
torical Quarterly, V. 171-205. 

2 Nicondiche (Naodiches, Naouadiche) was Notedache, a village of the 
Cenis tribe, known to ethnologists as the Hasinai. Thither the remains of La 
Salle's party had repaired after his murder. It was located on San Pedro Creek, 
a western branch of the Neches River, in the northeastern part of Houston County, 
Texas. 



1690] TONTY'S MEMOIR 313 

river. They had just come from fighting the Osages/ where 
they had lost thirteen men, but brought back 130 prisoners. 
We reached the village of the Kapa on the 16th of January, 
where we were received with much joy, and for four days 
there was nothing but dancing, feasting, and masquerading 
after their manner. They danced the final calumet for me, 
which confirmed the last alliance. 

On the 20th I came to the Tongenga. They wished to 
entertain us as the Kapa had done; but being in haste I 
put them off imtil another time. I did the same with the 
Torimans, where I arrived on the 22d. Leaving my crew I 
set off the next day for Ossotoue, where my commercial house 
is. These savages had not yet seen me, as they lived on a 
branch of the river coming from the west. They did their 
best, giving me two women of the Cadadoquis nation, to 
which I was going. I returned to Torimans on the 26th, 
and bought there two pirogues. We went away on the 27th. 
On the 29th, finding one of our men asleep when on duty as 
sentinel, I reprimanded him, and he left me. I sent two of 
my people to the Coroa,^ to seek some Frenchmen and ap- 
point them a rendezvous at the lower part of their river, in 
order to spare myself the fatigue of dragging our goods six 
leagues inland. The Frenchman with whom I had quarrelled 
made with them a third. 

We camped opposite the rivers. Some Taenga coming 
from the Akansas found us there. On the 2nd,^ having reached 
the place of meeting, my Chaouanon went out hunting on the 
other side of the river, where he was attacked by three Cha- 
chouma.^ He killed one of them, and was slightly wounded 
by an arrow on the left breast. On the 4th, the rest of the 
party having arrived, we set out down stream. On the 5th, 
being opposite the Taenga, the men whom I had sent to the 

^ The Osage were a large and important tribe whose habitat was on the 
Big and Little Osage rivers, in the present states of Missouri and Arkansas. 

2 The Koroa were a small tribe located on the Mississippi below the Natchez, 
with whom La Salle in 1682 made alliance. Later they merged with the Yazoo 
and ultimately with the Choctaw. In customs they resembled the Natchez 
and Taensa, near whom they dwelt, although their language was reported to be 
different. 

3 Of February, 1690. 

*The Chakchiuma Indians dwelt on the Yazoo, and were allied to the 
Chickasaw, with whom they later merged. 



314 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1690 

Coroa not having brought any news of the two Frenchmen 
whom I was anxious about, I sent them to the Nache. They 
found that this nation had killed our two men. They retired 
as well as they could, making the savages believe that we were 
numerous. 

They arrived on the 8th of February. We set off on the 
12th with thirty Taenga, and after a voyage of twelve leagues 
to the northwest^ we left our pirogue, made twenty leagues' 
portage, and on the 17th of February, 1690, came to the 
village of the Nachicoche. They made us stay at the place 
which is in the midst of the three villages called Nachicoche, 
Ouasita, and Capiche.^ All the chiefs of the three nations 
assembled, and before they began to speak, the thirty Taenga 
who were with me got up, and leaving their arms went to the 
temple, to show the nations how sincerely they wished to make 
a firm peace. After having taken their God to witness they 
asked for their friendship. I made them some presents in 
the name of the Taenga. Peace having been concluded, they 
remained some days in the village to traffic for salt, which 
these nations got from a salt lake in the neighborhood. 

After the departure of the Taenga the villages where I was 
gave me guides to the Yatache ; and after ascending the river, 
always towards the northwest, about thirty leagues, we found 
fifteen cabins of Nache, who received us pretty well. We ar- 
rived on the 16th of March at the Yatache, about forty leagues 
from thence. The three villages of Yatache, Nadao, and 
Choye are together.^ When they knew of our arrival they 
came three leagues to meet us with refreshments. On their 
joining us, we went together to their villages. The chief 
made many feasts for us. I gave presents to them, and asked 
for guides to the Cadodaquis. 

They were very unwilling to give us any, as they had mur- 
dered three ambassadors only four days before, who went 

1 On the Red River. 

2 Three tribes of Caddoan stock located near the site of the present town of 
Natchitoches, Louisiana. 

3 The Yatache were the tribe usually known as Yatasi. They were of 
Caddoan stock and lived near the present site of Shreveport, Louisiana. The 
Nadao may have been the Nadaco (Anadarko), a related tribe who later dwelt 
west of the Yatasi between the Sabine and the Neches. The Choye are not 
identified. 



1690] TONTY'S MEMOIR 315 

to them to make peace. However, by dint of entreatieS; 
and assuring them that no harm should happen to their peo- 
ple, they granted me five men, and we got to the Cadodaquis 
on the 28th. At the place where we were encamped we dis- 
covered the trail of men and horses. The next day some 
horsemen came to reconnoitre us, and after speaking to the 
wife of the chief of their nation, whom I was bringing back 
with me, carried back the news to their nation. The next 
day a woman, who governed this nation, came to visit me 
with the principal persons of the village. She wept over me, 
demanding revenge for the death of her husband, and of the 
husband of the woman whom I was bringing back, both of 
whom had been killed by the Osages. As one takes advan- 
tage of everything, I promised that their death should be 
avenged. We went together to their temple. After the 
priests had invoked their God for a quarter of an hour they 
conducted me to the cabin of their chief. Before entering they 
washed my face with water, which is a ceremony among them. 

During the time I was there I learnt from them that eighty 
leagues off there were the seven Frenchmen whom M. Cavelier 
had left. I hoped to accomplish my purpose by rejoining them, 
but the Frenchmen who had accompanied me, tired of the 
voyage, being unwilling to go further, told me so. As they 
were unmanageable persons over w^hom I could exercise no 
authority in this distant country I was obliged to give way, 
and all that I could do was to engage one of them, with a 
savage, to accompany me to the village of the Naouadiche, 
where I hoped to find the Frenchmen. I told those who 
abandoned me, that to prevent the savages knowing this, they 
must say that I had sent them to carry back the news of my 
arrival, so that the savages should not suspect our disunion. 

The Cadodaquis are united with two other villages called 
Natchitoches and Nasoui. They are situated on the Red 
River. All the nations of this river speak the same language. 
Their cabins are covered with straw, and they are not assem- 
bled in villages, but their huts are distant one from the other. 
Their fields are beautiful. They have fish and game in abun- 
dance, but few cattle. They wage cruel war, hence their vil- 
lages are but thinly populated. I never found that they did 
any work except to make very fine bows, in which they trade 



316 EARLY NARRATIVES OP THE NORTHWEST [1690 

with distant nations. The Cadodaquis possess about thirty- 
horses, which they call cavalis} The men and women are tat- 
tooed in the face, and all over the body. They call this river 
the Red River, because in fact it deposits a sand which makes 
the water as red as blood. I am not acquainted with their 
manners, having only seen them in passing. 

I left this place on the 6th of April, directing our route 
southwards, with a Frenchman, a Chaouanon, a little slave 
of mine, and five of their savages, whom they gave me as 
guides to the Naouadiche. When I went away, I left in the 
hands of the wife of the chief a small box, in which I had put 
some ammunition. On our road we found some Naouadiche 
savages hunting, who assured me that they had left the French- 
men at their habitations. This gave me great pleasure, 
hoping to succeed in my whole object by finding them. On 
the 19th the Frenchman with me was lost. I sent the savages 
who were with me to look for him. He came back on the 
21st, and told me that, having lost our trail, he was near 
drowning in crossing a little river on a log. His bag having 
slipped off, all our powder was lost, which very much annoyed 
us as we were reduced to sixty rounds of ammunition. 

On the 23d we slept half a league from the village, and the 
chiefs came to visit us at night. I asked them about the 
Frenchmen. They told me at first that they were at their 
village. Arriving there the next day and seeing no one, when 
they desired to give me the calumet I refused, until I should 
see the Frenchmen. Seeing that I was determined, they told 
me that the Frenchmen had accompanied their chief to fight 
the Spaniards seven days' journey away from their village; 
that the Spaniards, having espied them, had surrounded them 
with their cavalry, and that their chief having spoken in their 
favor the Spaniards had given them horses and arms. Others 
told me that the Quanouatino had killed three of them, and 
that the four others were gone in search of iron arrow-heads. 
I no longer doubted that they had murdered them. So I told 
them that they had killed the Frenchmen. Directly all the 
women began to cry, and thus I saw that what I had said to 
them was true. I would not, therefore, accept the calumet. 
I told the chief I wanted four horses for my return, and having 

* C/. Spanish cahallo. 



1687] TONTY'S MEMOIR 317 

given him seven hatchets and a string of large glass beads, 
they gave me the next day four Spanish horses, two of which 
were marked on the haunch with an R and a crown above 
it, and another with an N. Horses are very common among 
them. There is not a cabin which has not four or five. As 
this nation is sometimes at peace and sometimes at war with 
the neighboring Spaniards, they take advantage of a war to 
carry off their horses. 

We harnessed ours as well as we could, and departed on 
the 29th, greatly vexed that we could not continue our route 
as far as M. de La Salle's camp, not having been able to ob- 
tain guides from this nation to take us there, though not more 
than eighty leagues away, and also being without ammunition, 
owing to the accident which I have related. 

It was at the distance of three days' journey from hence 
that M. de La Salle was murdered. I will say a word, in pass- 
ing, of what I have heard of his misfortune. 

M. de La Salle having landed beyond the Mississipy, on 
the side toward Mexico, about eighty leagues from the mouth 
of the river, ^ and having lost his vessels on the coast, saved 
a part of the cargo, and began to march along the seashore, 
in search of the Mississipy. Meeting with many obstacles to 
his plans on account of the bad roads, he resolved to go to 
the Islinois by land. So he loaded several horses to carry 
what was necessary. The Recollect Father Anastatius,^ M. 
Cavelier, the priest, his brother ; M. Cavelier, his nephew ; M. de 
Morange, his relative;^ MM. du Haut and Lanquetot,^ and 
several Frenchmen accompanied him, with a Chaouanon savage. 

^ The site of La Salle's lost colony on the coast of Texas has recently been 
discovered by Professor Herbert E. Bolton. It was located on Garcitas River 
in Victoria County, Texas. See his article in the Mississippi Valley Historical 
Review, II. 166-182. 

2 Anastase Douay, a Recollect friar, accompanied La Salle as one of the 
chaplains of his final expedition. After his return to France with La Salle's 
brother, he wrote an account of the expedition which was published in Chrestien 
Le Clercq, Premier Stablissement de la Foy dans \la Nouvelle France (Paris, 
1691). Father Anastase afterward returned to Louisiana as chaplain for Iber- 
ville. 

3 Crevel de Moranget was a nephew of La Salle. 

* The name is spelled Liotot, Lanctot, and as printed here. He was the 
siu-geon of La Salle's expedition, who was embarked at La Rochelle, having 
given no previous account of his history. 



318 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1687 

When three days' journey from the Naouadiche, finding 
himself short of provisions, he sent M. de Morange, his ser- 
vant, and the Chaouanon, to hunt in a small wood with orders 
to return in the evening. When they had killed some buffa- 
loes, they stopped to dry the meat. M. de La Salle was un- 
easy, so he asked the Frenchmen who among them would 
go and look for them. Du Haut and Lanquetot had for a 
long time determined to kill M. de La Salle, because, during 
the journey he had made along the seacoast, he had compelled 
the brother of Lanquetot, who was unable to keep up, to re- 
turn to camp, and as he was returning alone he was mas- 
sacred by the savages. This caused Lanquetot to swear that 
he would never forgive his brother's death. And as in long 
journeys there are always many discontented persons in a 
company, he easily found partisans. He offered, therefore, 
with them, to search for M. de Morange, in order to have an 
opportunity to execute their design. 

Having found the men, he told them that M. de La Salle 
was uneasy about them ; but, they declaring that they could 
not set off till the next day, it was agreed to sleep there. 
After supper they arranged the order of the watch, that it 
should begin with M. de Moranget ; after him was to follow 
the servant of M. de La Salle, and then the Chaouanon. 
After they had kept their watch and were asleep, the others 
massacred them, as persons attached to M. de La Salle. To- 
ward daybreak they heard the reports of pistols, which were 
fired as signals by M. de La Salle, who was coming with the 
Recollect Father in search of them. The wretches, suspect- 
ing that it was he, lay in wait for him, placing M. du Haut's 
servant in front. When M. de La Salle came near, he asked 
where M. de Morange was. The servant, keeping on his hat, 
answered that he was behind. As M. de La Salle advanced 
to remind him of his duty, he received three balls in his head, 
and fell down dead (March 19, 1687). I do not know whether 
the Recollect Father could do anything, but it is agreed that 
he was frightened, and, thinking that he also was to be killed, 
threw himself on his knees before the murderers, and begged 
for a quarter of an hour to prepare his soul. They replied 
that they were willing to spare his life. 

They went on together to where M. CaveHer was, and, as 



1687] TONTY'S MEMOIR 319 

they advanced, shouted, "Down with your arms." M. 
Caveher, on hearing the noise, came forward, and, when told 
of the death of his brother, threw himself on his knees before 
the murderers, making the same request that had been made 
by the Recollect Father. They granted him his life. He 
asked to go and buiy the body of his brother, but they re- 
fused.^ 

Such was the end of one of the greatest men of this age, 
a man of an admirable spirit, and capable of undertaking all 
sorts of explorations. This murder much grieved the three 
Naoudiche whom M. de La Salle had found hunting, and who 
had accompanied him to the village. After the murderers had 
committed this crime, they seized all the baggage of the de- 
ceased, and the rest of the Frenchmen continued their journey 
to the village of the Naouadiche, where they found two French- 
men domesticated among the savages, who had deserted in 
M. de La Salle's time.^ 

After staying some days in this village, the savages pro- 
posed to them to go to war against the Quanouatino, to 
which the Frenchmen agreed, lest the savages should ill- 
treat them. As they were ready to set off for war, an English 
buccaneer,^ whom M. de La Salle had always liked, begged 
of the murderers that, as the savages were soon going to war, 
they would give him and his comrades some shirts. They 
flatly refused, which offended the Englishman, and he could 
not help expressing this to his comrades. They agreed to- 
gether to make a second demand, and if refused, to revenge the 
death of M. de La Salle. 

This they did some days afterwards. The Englishman, 
taking two pistols in his belt, accompanied by a Frenchman 
with a gun, went deliberately to the cabin of the murderers, 
whom they found outside shooting with bows and arrows. 

Lanquetot bade them good day, and asked how they were. 
They answered that they were pretty well, that as for his 

^ Professor Bolton concludes in the article noted above, p. 317, note 1, 
that La Salle's death occurred on Brazos River just above the mouth of the 
Navasota. 

* These Frenchmen were Ruter, a Breton seaman, and GroUet, from La 
Rochelle. 

* This man, whose name was Hiens, is called by some authorities a German. 
La Salle took him into his party in the West Indies. 



320 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1690 

party it was not necessary to ask how they did, as they were 
always eating turkeys and good venison. Then the EngUsh- 
man asked if they would not give some ammunition and shirts, 
as they had taken possession of everything. They replied 
that M. de La Salle was their debtor, and that what they had 
taken was theirs. "You will not, then?" said the English- 
man. "No," replied they. On which the Englishman said 
to one of them, "You are a wretch ; you murdered my master," 
and firing his pistol killed him on the spot. Du Hault tried 
to get into his cabin, but the other Frenchman shot him also 
with a pistol, in the loins, which threw him on the ground. 
M. Cavelier and Father Anastase ran to his assistance. Du 
Haut had hardly time to confess himself, for the father had 
but just given him absolution when he was finished by another 
pistol-shot at the request of the savages, who could not en- 
dure that he should live after having killed their chief. The 
Englishman took possession of everything. He gave a share 
to M. Cavelier, who, having found my abode at the Akansas, 
went from thence to the Islinois. The Englishman, with five 
companions, remained at the Naouadiche. 

We reached the Cadodaquis on the 10th of May. We 
stayed there to rest our horses, and went away on the 17th, 
with a guide who was to take us to the village of the Coroas. 
After four days' journey he left us, in consequence of an ac- 
cident which happened to us in crossing a marsh. As w^e were 
leading our horses by the bridle, he fancied he was pursued 
by an alligator, and this led him to try to climb a tree in the 
midst of this little marsh. In doing this, he entangled the 
halter of my horse, which was drowned. This induced him 
to leave us without saying anything, lest we should punish 
him for the loss of the horse. This left us in great difficulty 
respecting the road which we were to take. 

I forgot to say that the savages who have horses use them 
both for war and for hunting. They make pointed saddles, 
wooden stirrups, and body-coverings of several skins, one 
over the other, as a protection from arrows. They arm the 
breasts of their horses with the same material, a proof that 
they are not very far from the Spaniards. 

When our guide was gone I told our Chaouanon to take 
the lead ; he said in answer that since he was accompanying 



1690] TONTY'S MEMOIR 321 

me that was my affair ; and as I was unable to change his pur- 
pose I was obHged to act as guide. I directed our course to 
the southeast, and after about forty leagues' march, crossing 
seven rivers, we found the river of the Coroas. We made a 
raft to explore the other side of the river, but, finding there no 
dry land, we were compelled to resolve to abandon our horses, 
as it was impossible to take them on, upon account of the great 
inundation. 

In the evening, as we were preparing to depart, we saw 
some savages. We called to them in vain — they ran away, 
and we were imable to come up with them. Two of their 
dogs came to us, which with our two, we embarked the next 
day on our rafts, and left our horses. We crossed fifty leagues 
of flooded country. The water, where it was least deep, 
reached half-way up the leg; and in all this tract we found 
only one little island of dry land, where we killed a bear and 
dried its flesh. It would be difficult to give an idea of the 
trouble we had to get out of this miserable country, where 
it rained night and day. We were obliged to sleep on the 
trunks of two great trees, placed together, to make our fires 
on the trees, [to make] rafts on entering every new field, to 
eat our dogs, and to carry our baggage across large tracts 
covered with reeds. In short, I never suffered so much in my 
life as in this journey to the Mississipy, which we reached on 
the 11th of July. 

Finding where we were, and that we were only thirty 
leagues from the Coroas, we resolved to go there, although 
we had never set foot in that village. We arrived there on 
the evening of the 14th. We had not eaten for three days, 
as we could find no animal, on account of the great flood. I 
found at this village two of the Frenchmen who had aban- 
doned me. The savages received me very well, and were con- 
cerned at the troubles which we had had, for during the week 
they did not cease to make good cheer for us, sending men 
every day to hunt and fish, and not sparing their chickens 
and turkeys. I set out on the 20th, and arrived on the 31st 
at the Akansas, where the fever fastened on me, which obliged 
me to stay there till the 11th of August, when I left that 
place, and it continued with me to the Islinois, where I ar- 
rived in the month of September. 



322 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1690 

I should not know how to describe the beauty of all the 
countries that I have mentioned, and, if I had worked them, I 
would say for what purposes they might be utilized. As for 
the Mississipy, it might produce every year peltries to the 
amount of 2,000 crowns, and abundance of lead and of timber 
for ships. Commerce in silk might be established there, and 
a port to harbor ships and form a base for the Gulf of Mexico. 
Pearls will be found, and even if wheat could not be had below, 
the upper river would furnish it, and one could furnish the 
islands^ with what they need, such as lumber, vegetables, 
grain, and salt beef. 

If I had not been in haste to compose this narrative, I 
might have put into it many details which would have pleased 
the reader, but the loss of my memoranda in my voj^ages brings 
it about that this narrative is not written as I should have 
wished. 

Henry de Tonty. 

1 The French possessions in the West Indies. 



MEMOIR OF DULUTH ON THE SIOUX COUNTRY 

1678-1682 



INTRODUCTION 

The heroic age of French exploration in the Northwest 
would be incomplete without an account of the adventures of 
Daniel Greysolon, Sieur Duluth, the peer of Perrot and La 
Salle. Duluth was a native of St. Germain-en-Laye, a suburb 
of Paris. His family was allied to that of Tonty, who spoke 
of him as his cousin. This family alliance gave Duluth ac- 
cess to the court, and advanced him in his chosen career of 
arms to a place in the King's Guard — an honor reserved for 
youth of noble families alone. Just what his military services 
were we do not know, save that he participated as squire to a 
great noble in the bloody battle of Seneff in 1674, and es- 
caped unharmed while his patron was sorely wounded. 

Duluth had before this battle made a visit to New France, 
where several of his relatives had preceded him and held 
ofiBces in the colony. After his feat of arms he returned to 
the new country, whose great rivers and vast silences seemed 
ever to call him to solve their mysteries, and to whose explora- 
tion he devoted twenty years of his mature life. It was in 
1678 that the resolution to explore the Sioux country came to 
him in his quiet home among the river-side gardens of old 
Montreal. Perchance a hint dropped by the great Count de 
Frontenac determined the future career of the young soldier ; 
perchance, the lure of the wilderness life directed his va- 
grant fancy. At all events, he determined to see for him- 
self the great fresh-water seas of the northern country, and 
to push beyond toward the setting sun, and the possible hope 
of a route to the Vermillion Sea. 

After having circled the lofty and picturesque shores of 
Lake Superior he found his way through the tangle of lakes, 

325 



326 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

streams, and marshes that constitute the headwaters of the 
Mississippi, and planted the arms and emblems of the French 
monarch in the heart of the comitry of the great Sioux tribe. 
The alHance with this tribe was to bring unlimited wealth in 
furs to the young colony along the St. Lawrence, for the Sioux 
were a great people, of many branches, whose territory 
abounded in beaver and other valuable peltry. 

Duluth next visited the country of the Assiniboin, far 
northwest of Lake Superior, and having made peace between 
them and their neighbors diverted the stream of the rich 
northern fur trade from the chaimels leading to the English 
posts on Hudson Bay to those leading to the Great Lakes and 
the Ottawa. 

On one of his expeditions into the Siouan territory, he was 
astonished and annoyed to learn that the tribe was holding 
as prisoners three Frenchmen, one of whom was a Recollect 
friar, chaplain of La Salle's expedition. Without a moment's 
hesitation Duluth changed his plans for farther westward 
exploration, and set out to rescue the captives from the hands 
of his quondam friends. Spurning the calumets with which 
they met him, he sternly demanded why they had violated 
their treaty with the French, and from the cowed and re- 
pentant chief he carried off Father Hennepin and his two 
voyageurs. 

Like Nicolas Perrot, Duluth was a master of the art of 
Indian domination. Mingling sternness with kindness, and 
always meting out a rude justice, he secured an ascendancy 
over the savage mind that proved of vital importance to the 
colony of New France. He composed the difficulties between 
warring tribes, imposed a Pax Gallica upon the northern 
country, and made its ways safe for every French wanderer 
through the forests of the great Northwest. 

Halted in this daring and beneficent labor by the petty 
criticism and condemnation of small-minded officials, Duluth 



INTRODUCTION 327 

was obliged to return to the colony to justify his actions, and 
to clear himself of the charge of being a coureur des hois. His 
patron Frontenac had him arrested, in reality for the purpose 
of keeping him safe from machinations of his enemies. Soon 
Duluth was permitted to return again to the great territory 
he had explored, whose reservoirs of wealth he had tapped for 
the sake of New France, and whose inhabitants he swayed by 
the force of truth and justice. In 1686 he was sent by the 
governor of that time to build a post on the straits between 
Lakes Erie and Huron in order to intercept the Dutch and Eng- 
lish traders that were trying to break the monopoly of the 
French with the Northwestern tribes. At this Fort St. 
Joseph, somewhere on the St. Clair River, the wild tribes of 
the West gathered for Denonville's expedition against the 
Iroquois in 1687. Thither came Perrot with the tribes of the 
Mississippi and Wisconsin, and thither Tonty led his gathered 
forces from the Illinois. Great must have been the satis- 
faction of these explorers and governors of the great Western 
hinterland to meet and relate tales of adventure and plan for 
future growth and progress. 

After Denonville's disastrous failure, and the return of 
Frontenac in 1689 as governor of the distracted colony, it was 
to Tonty, Perrot, and Duluth that the great governor turned 
to maintain the French empire in the West and keep the 
ascendancy over its numerous tribesmen. It was Duluth's 
part to spend more years among the Sioux, to explore the 
west and northwest shores of Superior, and to build a fort 
upon Lake Nipigon. In 1696 he was called to command at 
Fort Frontenac on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, after 
having been promoted to a captaincy in the colonial troops. 

After the death of Frontenac, Duluth returned to Mon- 
treal, where his latter years were quietly spent. His death 
in 1710 was a release for his brave spirit. 

Thus passed away a nobleman of old and new France. 



328 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

He had annexed an empire to the colony, had secured it by 
forts on Lake Superior, Lake Nipigon, and the River St. Clair ; 
he had threaded the portages from Lake Superior to the Mis- 
sissippi, had discovered the headwaters of that stream and the 
sources of Lake Winnipeg ; he had turned back the threaten- 
ing English invasion of the Northwest, and by firmness, de- 
cision, good judgment, and sacrifice had saved to New France 
a seventy years' tenure of the Upper Country. Singularly 
modest in the midst of boasters, always a nobleman in his 
treatment of both friends and rivals, this "gentleman of the 
King's Guard" was equally at home in the haunts of plea- 
sure or the savage wilderness, in the palace at Versailles, or 
the council-house of the Sioux. His memory is perpetuated 
by the noble city that bears his name at the head of the 
mighty lake he delighted to traverse. 

The brief account which we here publish of Duluth's early 
experiences in the Northwest was a memoir addressed by him 
to the French minister of marine in 1685. The manuscript is 
in the archives of the Ministry of the Marine at Paris ; it has 
been printed by Henry Harrisse, Notes pour Servir a VHisioire 
de la Nouvelle France (Paris, 1872), pp. 177-181; also in 
Margry, Decouvertes et ^tablissements des Frangais dans VAme- 
rique Septentrionale (Paris, 1886), VI. 20-25. It appeared 
first in English form in John G. Shea, A Description of Louisi- 
ana hy Father Louis Hennepin (New York, 1880), pp. 374- 
377, from which we here reprint. 



MEMOIR OF DULUTH ON THE SIOUX 
COUNTRY, 1678-1682 

Memoir of the Sieur Daniel Greyselon du Luth on the Explora- 
tion of the Country of the Nadouecioux, of which he gives a 
very detailed Narrative. 

To my Lord the Marquis de Seignelay: ^ 
My Lord : 

After having made two voyages from here to New France, 
where everyone believed that it was impossible to explore the 
country of the Nadouecioux,^ nor to have any commerce 
with them, both because of their distance, which is 800 leagues 
from our settlements, and because they are at war generally 
with all sorts of tribes, this difficulty caused me to make the 
resolve to go among them, which I could not put into execu- 
tion at that time, my affairs having obliged me to come back 
here, whence, after having made the campaign of Franche 
Comt4, and of the battle of Senef, where I had the honor 
to be a gendarme of the guard of his Majesty and squire 
of Monsieur de Lassay,^ our ensign, I set out to return to 
Quebec, where I had no sooner arrived, than the desire I 
already had to carry out this plan increased, and I began to 
take my measures to make myself known on the part of the 
savages, who having assured me of their friendship, and for 

^ Seignelay (1651-1691), eldest son of Colbert, was minister of marine from 
1683 to 1690. 

2 The Sioux Indians, living in northwest Wisconsin and in Minnesota. 
See p. 24, note 1, ante. 

' The battle of Seneff occurred August 11, 1674, between the forces of the 
United Netherlands and those of Louis XIV. The French general was the great 
Conde, one of whose aides-de-camp was Armand de Madaillan de Lesparre, 
Marquis de Lassay. The latter had two horses shot under him and was thrice 
wounded in this affray. It is interesting to remember that succoring the wounded 
in the Flemish ranks was the Recollect monk Louis Hennepin, whom a few years 
later Duluth was to meet in the depth of the American wilderness. 

329 



330 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1679 

proof of it given three slaves whom I had asked of them only 
in order that they might come with me, I set out from Mon- 
treal with them and seven Frenchmen on the first of Sep- 
tember of the year 1678, to attempt the exploration of the 
Nadouecioux and the Assenipoualaks^ who were unknown 
to us, and to cause them to make peace with all the nations 
around Lake Superior who dwell in the dominion of our in- 
vincible monarch. 

1 do not believe that such an expedition can give anyone 
ground to accuse me of having disobeyed the King's orders 
of the year 1676, since he merely forbade all his subjects to 
go into the depths of the woods to trade there with the sav- 
ages.'^ This I have never done, nor even been willing to 
take any presents from them, though they have several times 
thrown them to me, which I have always refused and left, in 
order that no one might be able to accuse me of having carried 
on any indirect traffic. 

On the second of July, 1679, I had the honor to set up the 
arms of his Majesty in the great village of the Nadouecioux 
called Izatys,^ where no Frenchman had ever been, nor to 
the Songaskitons and Houetbatons,^ distant 26 leagues from 
the first, where also I set up the arms of his Majesty in the 
same year 1679. 

On the 15th of September, having made with the As- 
senipoulaks and all the other nations of the North a rendez- 
vous at the extremity of Lake Superior to cause them to make 
peace with the Nadouecioux their common enemy, they all 
appeared there, where I had the good fortune to gain their 
esteem and their friendship, to bring them together, and in 
order that peace might last longer among them, I believed 

^ For this tribe, now known as the Assiniboin, see p. 133, note 2, ajtte. 

2 This edict was one of several issued by the King against the coureurs des 
hois, illegal traders with the Indian tribesmen. 

3 Hennepin called the Sioux tribe who captured him "Issati." The vil- 
lage in which Duluth placed the King's arms, no doubt with ceremonies similar 
to those of St. Lusson at Sault Ste. Marie, is supposed to have been situated on 
the shore of Lake Mille Lac in northern Minnesota. 

* These were two branches of the Eastern Sioux; the term "Songaskitons" 
is translated by some as the "village of the fort," by others the "strong or brave" 
ones; the "Houetbatons" are known to ethnologists as the Wahpeton, interpreted 
as the "vUlage of the river." See Wis. Hist. Coll., XVI. 193, 194. 



1680] DULUTH ON THE SIOUX COUNTRY 331 

that I could not better cement it than by causing marriages 
to be made mutually between the different nations. This I 
could not carry out without much expenditure. During the 
following winter I caused them to hold meetings in the forest, 
at which I was present, in order to hunt together, feast, and 
thus draw closer the bonds of friendship. 

A still greater expense arose from the presents which I 
had to make in order to cause the savages to come to Mon- 
treal, who had been diverted from this by the Openagos and 
Abenakis^ under incitement from the English and the Flem- 
ings ^ who made them believe that the pestilence was in the 
settlements of the French, and that it had gone up as far as 
Nipissinguie, where the greater part of the Nipissiriniens had 
died of it.^ 

In June, 1680, not having been satisfied with having made 
my exploration by land, I took two canoes, with a savage 
who was my interpreter, and with four Frenchmen, to seek 
a means of making it by water. For this purpose I entered 
into a river which has its mouth eight leagues from the ex- 
tremity of Lake Superior on the south side,* where after 
having cut down some trees and broken through about one 
hundred beaver dams, I went up the said river, and then 
made a carry of half a league to reach a lake,^ which emptied 
into a fine river, which brought me to the Mississippi, where I 
learned, from eight lodges of Nadouecioux whom I met, that 
the Reverend Father Louis Henpin, Recollect, now at the 
convent of St. Germain, had with two other Frenchmen^ 

1 For the Abenaki, see p. 294, note 1, ante. The name Openagos is a 
variant of Abenaki; it is sometimes appUed to the Passamaquoddy branch of 
this tribe. 

2 Duluth uses the term "Flemings" to denote the dwellers in the Low 
Countries generally; the reference is to the Dutch of the colony of New York, 
who were the rivals of the French in the Western fur trade. 

^ The pestilence was doubtless smallpox, which was very fatal among the 
Indians. For Lake Nipissing and the tribe of that name, see p. 15, note 4, ante. 

* The stream now known as the Bois Brule, or simply the Brule, in Douglas 
County, Wisconsin. 

^ The portage is to Upper Lake St. Croix. See description of this portage 
in recent times, in Wis. Hist. Coll., XX. 405, 406, notes 32 and 34. 

8 For Father Louis Hennepin, see p. 287, note 3, ante. His companions 
were Antoine du Gay Auguel, known from his birthplace as "le Picard"; and 
Michel Accault, a native of Poitiers, for whom see p. 290, note 1, ante. 



332 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1680 

been seized and taken away as slaves for more than three hun- 
dred leagues by the Nadouecioux themselves. 

This news surprised me so much that, without hesitating, 
I left two Frenchmen with these above mentioned eight 
lodges of savages, together with the goods which I had for 
making presents, and took one of the said savages, to whom 
I gave a present in order that he should conduct me with my 
interpreter and two Frenchmen to the place where the said 
Reverend Father Louis was, and as it was eighty good leagues 
I went in my canoe two days and two nights, and the next 
day at ten o'clock in the morning I met him with about 1000 
or 1100 souls. The want of respect that was being shown to 
the said Reverend Father provoked me, and I let them know it, 
telling them that he was my brother, and I put him in my 
canoe to go with me into the villages of the said Nadouecioux, 
to which I took him. There, a week after having arrived, I 
caused a council to be held, setting forth the ill-treatment 
which they had bestowed both upon the said Reverend Father 
and upon the other two Frenchmen who were with him, seiz- 
ing them and leading them away as slaves, and even taking 
the priestly robes of the said Reverend Father.^ I caused 
two calumets (which they had danced to us) to be given 
back to them in recognition of the insult they had done 
us, these being the things most esteemed among them for 
pacifying affaks, saying to them that I took no calumets 
from people who, after having seen me, having received 
my peace-gifts, and having been constantly for a year with 
Frenchmen, kidnapped them when they were coming to see 
them. 

Each one sought to excuse himself in the council, but 
their excuse did not prevent me from saying to the Reverend 
Father Louis that he must come with me toward the Ou- 
tagamys,^ which he did, I informing him that it would be 

1 The vanity of Hennepin did not allow him to admit that he was a captive 
and a slave, the cruel sport of the Indians. He represented that he accompanied 
Duluth because of the latter's pleasure in his society, and his desire for his com- 
panionship. See Hennepin, New Discovery (ed. Thwaites, Chicago, 1903), pp. 
293-305. 

^ The Fox Indians, dwelling at this time on the river of their name. Set 
p. 76, note 2, and p. 81, note 1, arUe. 



1681] DULUTH ON THE SIOUX COUNTRY 333 

striking a blow at the French nation in a new exploration, to 
suffer iQsult of this sort without showing resentment of it,^ 
though my plan had been to penetrate then to the sea of the 
west-northwest coast, which is believed to be the Vermillion 
Sea, whence the savages who had gone to war in that direc- 
tion gave salt to three Frenchmen whom I had sent to explore 
and who brought me some of the said salt, having reported to 
me that the savages had told them that it was only twenty 
days' journey from where they were to the discovery of the 
great lake whose water is not good to drink. ^ This is what 
makes me believe that it would not be at all difficult to find 
it, if one were willing to give permission to go there. Never- 
theless I preferred to retrace my steps, letting them know of 
the just indignation I had against them, rather than remain 
after the violence they had done to the said Reverend Father 
and to the two Frenchmen who were with him, whom I put 
in my canoes, and brought them to the Michelimakinak mis- 
sion of the reverend Jesuit fathers,^ where wintering together, 
I learned that, far from being approved in what I had done, 
using up my goods and risking my life eveiy day, I was treated 
as the chief of a party, although I have never had more than 
eight men with me.'* It was not necessary to say more, to 
compel me, on the 29th of March of the year 1681, to set out 
over the ice with the said Reverend Father and the two other 
Frenchmen, causing my canoe and our provisions to be dragged 
along, to come the sooner to our settlements and to make known 
the correctness of my conduct, never having been disposed to 
depart from the obedience which is due to the orders of the 
Kmg. 

Accordingly, three months before the arrival of the am- 
nesty which his Majesty has been pleased to accord to his 
subjects who had disobeyed his orders, I reached our settle- 

^ Duluth recognized the necessity of rendering the lives of Frenchmen 
secure among such a horde of savages. See his punishment of Indian murderers 
related in Wis. Hist. Coll., XVI. 114-125. 

^ This is by some historians considered a probable reference to Great Salt 
Lake. 

2 For the foundation of this mission, see p. 229, note 1, ante. 

* See La Salle's complaints of Duluth in Wis. Hist. Coll., XVI. 107-110. 
It should be remembered, in this connection, that La Salle could brook no rivals. 



334 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTm^^ST [1681 

merits without Monsieur the Intendant's^ having been will- 
ing to hear what request I had to present. 

As to the manner m which I lived during my journey, it 
would be superfluous to enlarge upon this subject, and to 
weary your Excellency by a long discourse, being persuaded 
that thirteen original letters from the Reverend [Father] 
Nouvel, superior of the missions to the Outaouas,^ the Rev- 
erend Father Enjalran, missionary of St. Francis of Borgia,^ 
the Reverend Father Bailloquet, missionary of Ste. Marie du 
Sault,^ and the Reverend Father Pierson, missionary to the 
Hurons at St. Ignace,^ all Jesuits, will for the rest suffice to 
inform your Excellency faithfully and amply. 

^ Duluth is thought to have been acting for the governor, Count de Fron- 
tenac, who was in opposition to the intendant, Jacques de Muelles. The former's 
protection was probably the source of the latter's enmity. 

2 Henri Nouvel, born in 1624, entered the Jesuit order in 1648 and was 
sent to Canada in 1662. He served in lower Canada for seven years, and in 1669 
was sent to the Ottawa mission. He was superior for the years 1672-1680 (with 
an interregnum in 1678-1679), and again from 1688 to 1695. The date of his 
death is uncertain. 

3 Jean Enjalran, born in 1639, came to Canada in 1676, and the following 
year was sent to the Ottawa mission, where he served for many years. From 
1681 to 1688 he was superior of the mission; in 1687, having accompanied as 
chaplain Denonville's Iroquois expedition, he was seriously wounded. After a 
visit to France, he returned to the Mackinac mission, where he was in service 
as late as 1706. He died, probably in France, in 1718. The mission to the Al- 
gonquian tribes at Mackinac was known as St. Francis Borgia. 

* Pierre Bailloquet came to Canada in 1647 ; he was assigned to the Ottawa 
naission in 1673, and spent five years among the Indians of the Manitoulin Is- 
lands. Afterward he was stationed at Sault Ste. Marie and at Mackinac, and 
died in the Ottawa country June 7, 1692. 

^ Philippe Pierson was a native of Flanders, who came to Canada in 1666. 
In 1673 he went to the St. Ignace mission at Mackinac, where he resided ten 
years. The final years of his ministry were spent among the Sioux, whence he 
returned to die at Quebec in 1688. 



THE VOYAGE OF ST. COSME, 1698-1699 



INTRODUCTION 

The seventeenth century had but barely turned into its 
second half when a group of five young men of religious ten- 
dencies met in Paris and formed an ascetic brotherhood, who 
dwelt together and stimulated one another to noble deeds. 
From this group sprang the Societe des Missions Etrangeres 
— a society still in active existence after two and a haK cen- 
turies' mission work in foreign lands. One of the group of 
five was a young nobleman of a great family closely allied to 
the royal house — Frangois Laval de Montmorency. In his 
zeal to carry the message of the Gospel to distant lands, he 
sought the colony of New France, where he became the first 
Canadian bishop. His experiences in Paris led him to found 
in Quebec a seminary for the training of priests and mission- 
aries, which was under the auspices of the Paris Seminary, 
and allied with the movement for foreign missions. 

Several years, however, passed before Laval obtained the 
opportunity he sought to establish Indian missions in the 
heart of the American continent. The Jesuits had pre-empted 
the field, and the Sulpitians and Franciscans likewise had 
entered into a friendly rivalry to effect the conversion of the 
North American Indians. The discoveries and explorations 
of La Salle and Tonty had, however, made known a large 
number of tribes in the lower Mississippi Valley, that were to 
all appearance of a docile and receptive disposition, and 
furnished to the eager missionaries a virgin soil to cultivate. 
Laval thereupon chose three of his Seminary priests to in- 
augurate the work in the far Southwest, and sent them forth 
in the summer of 1698 to begin new missions among yet pagan 
tribes of aborigines. 

337 



338 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

The expedition of the Seminary mission was very well 
equipped. It is said that the cost was over 10,000 livres, a 
large share of which was furnished by the head of the com- 
pany, Francois Jolliet de Montigny, whom Laval named 
vicar-general of the enterprise. Accompanying him were 
Father Antoine Davion, who had been since 1690 in the Ca- 
nadian field, and Father Jean Frangois Buisson de St. Cosme, 
a native of New France who had seen missionary service' in 
Acadia. Another Canadian, Rev. Dominic Thaumer de la 
Source, accompanied them, together with several lay brothers, 
and the usual complement of voyageurs and engages. 

At Mackinac they were fortunate enough to fall in with 
Henri Tonty, commandant in the Illinois, whose services to 
the reverend fathers were inestimable. Leaving the post and 
mission at the Straits early in September, they made their 
way along the western shore of Lake Michigan, regretfully 
abandoned the Fox-Wisconsin route because of the hostile 
Fox Indians, and after vainly essaying a portage from Root 
River of Racine to the Fox River of the Illinois, coasted along 
until the latter part of October brought them to Chicago. 
There the Seminary fathers were the guests of the Jesuits 
who had preceded them, and had established at this favor- 
able site a mission for the Miami Indians. Thence, after a 
few days' rest, the little company of priests and their com- 
panions made their way to the Illinois River, and spent some 
time among the populous villages of the Illinois Indians, lying 
along the banks of the river of their name. 

In these villages Tonty was a welcome and honored guest, 
and for his sake the priests were received for the most part 
with courtesy and kindness. Some of the tribesmen depre- 
cated their visits to the Indians of the Mississippi and at- 
tempted to place obstacles in their way. The strength of 
their retinue and the vigor of Tonty's support forbade serious 
opposition, and the only hindrance was the early formation 



INTRODUCTION 339 

of an ice bridge, which after some delay they broke by the 
impact of wooden canoes. 

Once upon the Mississippi, the days were passed in gently 
drifting down the stream, admiring the wooded bluffs and 
grassy islands, enjoying the abundance of game that thronged 
the banks and the new and unknown kinds of fruits that sup- 
plied them with abundant food. Strange peoples, too, flocked 
to the water's edge to see the canoes of the white men pass by. 
At all the villages Tonty's presentation of the calumet of peace 
opened the way for an honorable reception. 

At the site of the old Kappa village near the mouth of the 
Arkansas — the village of Marquette's farthest south on his 
voyage of 1673 — the expedition halted. Tonty after visit- 
ing his post on the Arkansas River returned at once to the 
Illinois. The priests, however, remained in order to seek for 
favorable locations for missions among the tribes still farther 
southward along the Mississippi. 

By the returning party, under Tonty's protection, letters 
were sent to the Bishop of Quebec, informing him of the suc- 
cess of the enterprise and the plans for further action. Among 
these letters was that of St. Cosme, which we here present for 
its vivid detailed description of the inland journey from 
Michilimackinac of the northern lakes to Arkansas Post on the 
southwestern rivers. 

To follow the fortunes of our travellers farther, we learn 
that Davion was left among the Tonica tribesmen to begin 
his mission. They, however, proved so inhospitable that he 
was soon obliged to retire to the fort at Mobile. In 1704 he 
returned to his post, and labored among these Indians for 
eighteen years. Then, worn with age and hardships, he with- 
drew to New Orleans, and in 1727 returned to die in his native 
France. 

Montignv attempted a mission for the Taensas tribe, but 
was soon discouraged by their lack of response to his appeals. 



340 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST 

In 1700 he returned to France, and after serving as missionary 
in China for several years, was made director of the Society 
des Missions Etrangeres at Paris, and devoted his later life 
to the superintendency of all the foreign fields. 

For St. Cosme, the simple-hearted Canadian priest, was 
reserved a sadder fate. He first began his mission work among 
the Cahokia and Tamarois tribe, located near the site of the 
present Cahokia in Illinois. A few years later (the exact 
date is in doubt), on his way down the Mississippi to some of 
the lower missions, he was set upon and murdered by a dis- 
appointed war-party of the Chitimacha Indians. The mis- 
sion he had founded among the Cahokia was maintained by 
his colleague Thaumer de la Source until about 1721, when it 
was made over to the Jesuits, and the Seminary missions 
ceased to exist in the Mississippi Valley. 

Iberville, who had in the meanwhile annexed Louisiana 
to the crown of France, took summary vengeance on the mur- 
derers of St. Cosme by a retaliatory expedition against the 
Chitimacha, and the execution of the guilty chiefs. 

The letter that St. Cosme wrote, January 2, 1699, from the 
Arkansas post to Bishop Laval in Quebec has reposed in the 
archives of Laval University to this day. There it was dis- 
covered about the middle of the nineteenth century by John 
Gilmary Shea, the Catholic historian, and published by him 
simultaneously in French and in English. The French version 
was included in Shea's Cramoisy series under the title, Re- 
lation de la Mission du Mississippi du Seminaire de Quebec 
en 1700 (New York, 1861), the St. Cosme letter being supple- 
mented by shorter letters from Montigny and La Source. The 
English version was published by Joel Munsell at Albany in 
the same year, under the title Early Voyages up and down the 
Mississippi. With the letters of the Seminary priests Shea 
included in this latter volume Jean Cavelier's account of the 
death of La Salle; a letter from Father Gravier, a Jesuit 



INTRODUCTION 341 

missionary ; the voyage of Pierre Charles Le Sueur to discover 
mines in Minnesota; and the narrative of Father Guignas, 
who, in 1728, escaped from Fort Beauharnois among the Sioux. 
In pubhshing the letter of St. Cosme, Shea had recourse to a 
transcript of the original manuscript that had been made for 
Francis Parkman, of Boston. The transcriber had evidently 
been inexpert, and unable correctly to decipher the somewhat 
crabbed and peculiar writing of Father St. Cosme. The 
original manuscript being accessible in the University of Laval 
at Quebec, Dr. R. G. Thwaites, about 1898, had a careful 
transcript made and the translation collated by Col. Craw- 
ford Lindsay, ofl&cial translator for the Quebec province. 
This translation has been kindly put at our disposal by Dr. 
M. M. Quaife, the present superintendent of the Wisconsin His- 
torical Society. He has also permitted us to see, and compare 
with Colonel Lindsay's translation, a photostatic copy of a 
transcript in the possession of the Chicago Historical Society. 
Using this, we have made a few minor changes in our text. 
We believe, therefore, that the translation we here present 
has been made from a correct text of the original letter, and 
that it will solve some of the difficulties that have been raised 
by the text as previously published by Shea. Mgr. A. E. 
Gosselin, rector of Laval University, has kindly furnished 
tracings of certain names, in the original manuscript, the 
reading of which was doubtful. 

With this final narrative of our series we are brought to 
the closing years of the seventeenth century. The era of ex- 
ploration and adventure now merged in the era of exploitation. 
For sixty years longer France held the great interior valley 
of North America. Then it passed into other hands, and at 
present only a few hamlets and a few French-speaking people 
remain to remind us of the French regime in the American 
Northwest. 



THE VOYAGE OF ST. COSME, 1698-1699 

Letter of M. Jean Frs. Buisson de St. Cosme, Priest of the Semi- 
nary of Quebec. 

In the Akansgas country, this 2nd January 1699. 
My Lord, 

The last letter that I had the honor of writing to you was 
from Michilimakinac,^ whence we started on the fourteenth 
of September, journeying overland to meet our canoe, which 
had rounded the Pointe aux Iroquois and had gone to wait 
for us at the village of the Outaouacs, which village contains 
about three hundred men.^ God grant that they may re- 
spond to the care taken and the labors performed by the 
Reverend Jesuit Fathers for their instruction ; but they seem 
less advanced in Christianity than the Illinois, who, we are 
told, have only recently had missionaries. We left that village 
on the 15th of September to the number of eight canoes : four 
for the River of the Miamis under the Sieur de Vincenne;' 
our three canoes and that of Monsieur de Tonty,'* who, as I 
have already written you in my last, had resolved to ac- 

^ Father Jacques Gravier, who was one of the Jesuit missionaries at Mackinac, 
writes September 20, 1698 : "Father de Careil and myself are charmed with the 
good judgment, the zeal, and the modesty that Monsieur de Montigny, Monsieur 
de St. Cosme, and Monsieur Davion have displayed in the conferences that we 
have had together during the seven days they spent here." Jesuit Relations, 
LXV. 59. 

* Now called Point St. Ignace. For a map of this period showing the lo- 
cation of the Ottawa (Outaouac) village, see R. G. Thwaites (ed.), Lahontan'a 
New Voyages (Chicago, 1905), I. 36. 

' This is one of the earliest notices of Jean Baptiste Bissot, sieur de Vin- 
cennes, the founder of the French post among the Miami Indians. Vincennes 
was an oflBcer in the regiment of Carignan that came to New France in 1665. 
Early in the eighteenth century he was dwelling in the Miami village on the site 
of the present Fort Wayne, Indiana, and there in 1719 he died. His nephew 
founded the Indiana city of Vincennes. The river of the Miami was the present 
St, Joseph River, Michigan. 

* For this officer, see Introduction to his Memoir, pp. 283-285, ante. 

342 



/ 




A rOUTION OF FRANQUELINS GREAT RLVP OF 1688 (DEPOT DES CARTES, PARIS) 
From a copy in the Library of Congress 



1698] THE VOYAGE OF ST. COSME 343 

company us to the Acansgas.^ I cannot sufficiently express, 
my lord, the obligations we owe him. He conducted us 
to the Acansgas; he procured us much pleasure during the 
voyage; he greatly facilitated our passage through many 
nations, securing us the friendship of some and intimidating 
others — I mean the nations who through jealousy or the de- 
sire to pillage us sought to oppose our passage. He not only 
did his duty as a brave man but he also performed those of a 
zealous missionary, entering into all our views, exhorting the 
savages everywhere to pray and to listen to the missionaries. 
He soothed the minds of our servants in their petty whims ; 
he supported by his example the devotional exercises that 
the journey allowed us to perform and frequently attended 
the sacraments. 

It would be useless for me, my lord, to give you a de- 
scription of Lake Mietpgan,^ on which we embarked on leav- 
ing the fort of the Outaouacs. This route is fairly well known. 
We should have gone by the south side, which is much finer 
than the north, but as it is the route usually followed by the 
Iroquois, who, not long before, had made an attack on the 
soldiers and savages proceeding to the country of the Miamis, 
this compelled us to take the north side, which is not so agree- 
able nor so well stocked with game, though it is easier, I believe, 
in the autumn because one is sheltered from the northwest 
winds. On the 21st of the month we reached the traverse of 
the Bay of the Puants,^ which is distant forty leagues from 
Michilimakinac. We camped on an island called L'Isle du 
Detour because at that spot the lake begins to trend to the 
south.'* We were windbound on that island for six days, 
during which our people occupied themselves in setting nets 
and caught great quantities of white fish, which are excellent 
eating and a very plentiful manna that fails not along that lake, 
where there is a dearth of meat almost all the time. 

^ For this post, see p. 308, note 2, ante. In 1689 Tonty gave a site at this 
post for the establishment of a mission. 

* The orthography of the proper names in this document is very peculiar. 
It may be due to a crabbed hand-writing, which is difficult to decipher ; but the 
manuscript seems clearly to give this form of spelling for the word Michigan. 

^ The place where the mouth of Green Bay must be crossed. 

* Still known as Point Detour, the southeastern end of Delta County, 
Michigan, opposite Summer Island. 



344 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHA^^ST [1698 

On the 28th we crossed from island to island. The Bay of 
the Puants is about twenty or thirty leagues long. One 
passes on the right hand another small bay called that of the 
Noquest.^ The Bay of the Puants is inhabited by several 
savage tribes : the Noquest, the FoUes Avoine, the Renards, 
the Poutouatamis and the Saki.^ The Jesuit Fathers have 
a mission at the bottom of that bay.^ We should have liked 
very much to pass by the bottom of that bay and it would 
have greatly shortened our journey. A small river has to be 
ascended wherein there are only three leagues of rapids and 
which is about sixty leagues long ; then by means of a short 
portage one reaches the River Ouiskonsin, which is a very fine 
one, and by going down it one takes only two days to reach 
the Migissipi. In truth there is a distance of two hundred 
leagues from the spot where this river falls into the Missigipi 
to the place where the River of the Illinois discharges into 
the same Migissipi ; the current however is so strong that the 
distance is sooner passed. But the Renards, who live on that 
little river that one ascends on leaving the bay to reach Ouis- 
konsin, will not allow any persons to pass lest they might go 
to the Sioux, with whom they are at war, and consequently 
have already pillaged several Frenchmen who tried to go 
that way. This compelled us to take the route by way of 
Chikagou. 

On the 29th of September we arrived at the village of the 
Pous, distant about twenty leagues from the crossing of the 
bay.^ There had formerly been a very large village here, 
but after the death of the chief a portion of the savages had 
gone to live in the bay and the remainder were preparing to 
go there when we passed. We stopped in that village. On the 
30th we purchased some provisions which we needed. We 
started on the Slst^and on the 4th of October we came upon 

^ Both Big and Little Bay de Noquet are northern arms of Green Bay in 
Delta County, Michigan. The city of Escanaba lies on the latter bay. 

2 The Noquet, Menominee, Fox, Potawatomi, and Sauk Indians. 

3 The mission of St. Francois Xavier at De Pere, Wisconsin, for which see 
the Introduction to Allouez's Journal, p. 97. 

* The site of this Potawatomi (Pous) village has not been positively deter- 
mined. It was on the Lake Michigan side of the Door County peninsula; the 
distances would seem to indicate that it was not far from the present Kewaunee, 
Wisconsin. * Sic. 



1698] THE VOYAGE OF ST. COSME 345 

another small village of Poux, on a small river, where Reverend 
Father Marais had spent the winter with some Frenchmen 
and had planted a cross. ^ We stayed there for the remainder 
of the day. We left on the 5th and after being windbound 
for two days we started and after two days of heavy wind 
we reached Milouakik on the Qth.^ This is a river where there 
is a village which has been a large one, consisting of Mas- 
coutins, of Renards, and also of some Poux. We stayed 
there two days, partly on accomit of the wind and partly to 
recruit our men a little, because there is an abimdance of duck 
and teal in the river. 

On the eleventh of October we started early in the morning 
from the fort of Milouakik, and at an early hour we reached 
Edpikaoui, about eight leagues farther.^ Here we separated 
from Monsieur de Vincenne's party, which continued on its 
route to the Miamis. Some savages had led us to hope that 
we could ascend this river and after a portage of about two 
leagues might descend by another river called Pesioui^ 
which falls into the River of the Illinois about 25 or 30 leagues 
from Chikagou, and that we should thereby avoid all the 
portages that had to be made by the Chikagou route. We 
passed by this river [Root] which is about ten leagues in length 
to the portage^ and flows through agreeable prairies, but as 
there was no water in it we judged that there would not be 
any in the Peschoui either, and that instead of shortening our 
journey we should have been obliged to go over forty leagues 
of portage roads ; this compelled us to take the route by way of 
Chikagou which is distant about twenty leagues. 

^ This appears to have been on the site of the present Manitowoc, Wisconsin. 
The priest was probably Father Gabriel Marest of the Jesuit order, who came to 
Canada in 1694. His first service was as chaplain to Iberville's expedition of 
1695 to Hudson Bay, where Marest was captured by the English. As soon as 
he was exchanged he returned to New France, and was sent to the Illinois mis- 
sion, where he remained until his death in 1714. 

2 Milwaukee. 

' The present site of Racine, Wisconsin, at the mouth of Root River. 

* The present Fox River of Illinois, which was called on Franquelin's map 
of 1684 the Pestekouy. One of its affluents is still known as Lake Pistakee, in 
Lake County, Illinois. 

^ The portage is from the upper waters of Root River to Muskego Lake in 
the southeastern part of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, thence by its outlet into 
Fox River. 



346 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1698 

We remained five days at Kipikaoui, leaving on the 17th 
and after being windboimd on the 18th and 19th we camped 
on the 20th at a place five leagues from Chikagou. We should 
have arrived there early on the 21st but the wind which sud- 
denly arose on the lake compelled us to land half a league 
from Chikagou. We had considerable difficulty in landing 
and in saving our canoes ; we all had to jump into the water. 
One must be very careful along the lakes, and especially Lake 
Mixcigan, whose shores are very low, to take to the land as 
soon as possible when the waves rise on the lake, for the 
rollers become so high in so short a time that one runs the 
risk of breaking his canoe and of losing all it contains. Many 
travellers have already been wrecked there. We, Monsieur 
de Montigny, Davion, and myself, went by land to the house 
of the Reverend Jesuit Fathers while om* people remained 
behind.^ We found there Reverend Father Pinet and Rev- 
erend Father Binneteau,^ who had recently arrived from 
the Illinois country and was slightly ill. 

1 cannot describe to you, my lord, with what cordiality 
and manifestations of friendship these Reverend Fathers re- 
ceived and embraced us while we had the consolation of re- 
siding with them. Their house is built on the bank of a small 
river, with the lake on one side and a fine and vast prairie on 
the other. The village of the savages contains over a hundred 
and fifty cabins, and a league up the river is still another vil- 
lage almost as large. They are all Miamis. Reverend Father 
Pinet usually resides there except in winter, when the savages 
are all engaged in hunting, and then he goes to the Illinois. 
We saw no savages there ; they had already started for their 

^ For the Jesuit mission at Chicago, known as that of the Guardian Angel, 
see M. M. Quaife, Chicago and the Old Northwest (Chicago, 1913), pp. 40-42. 

2 Pierre Francois Pinet was born at Perigueux, France, November 11, 1660. 
He entered the Jesuit order in 1682 and was sent to Canada twelve years later. 
He was first stationed at Mackinac, and in 1696 founded the mission at Chicago. 
He was obliged to leave in 1697, but returned the following year. In 1700 he 
abandoned the Chicago mission and settled among the Tamarois Illinois, where 
he died in 1704. Some authorities state that he died at Chicago July 16, 1704. 

Julien Binneteau came as missionary to Canada in 1691. He was two years 
at an Acadian mission, went West in 1695, and the next year was sent to the Il- 
linois mission, where his death, December 24, 1699, was due to an illness con- 
tracted while following his neophytes in their hunting expeditions. 



1698] THE VOYAGE OF ST. COSME 347 

hunt. If one may judge of the future from the short time 
that Reverend Father Pinet has passed in this mission, we 
may beheve that if God will bless the labors and the zeal of 
that holy missionary there will be a great number of good 
and fervent Christians. It is true that but slight results are 
obtained with reference to the older persons, who are hardened 
in profligacy, but all the children are baptized, and the jug- 
glers even, who are the most opposed to Christianity, allow 
their children to be baptized. They are also very glad to let 
them be instructed. Several girls of a certain age and also 
many young boys have already been and are being instructed, 
so that we may hope that when the old stock dies off, they 
will be a new and entirely Christian people. 

On the 24th of October the wind fell and we sent for our 
canoes with all our effects, and finding that the water was 
extraordinarily low, we made a cache in the ground with some 
of them and took only what was absolutely necessary for our 
journey, intending to send for the remainder in the spring. 
We left Brother Alexandre in charge thereof, as he agreed to 
remain there with Father Pinet's man. We started from 
Chikagou on the 29th, and slept about two leagues from it on 
the little river^ that afterward loses itself in the prauies.^ 
On the following day we began the portage, which is about 
three leagues in length when the waters are low, and is only 
one-fourth of a league in the spring, for then one can embark 
on a smaU lake^ that discharges mto a branch of the river 
of the Illinois, and when the waters are low a portage has to 
be made to that branch. On that day we got over half our 
portage, and would have gone still further, when we per- 
ceived that a little boy given us by Monsieur de Muis,' and 
who had set out alone although he was told to wait, was lost. 
We had not noticed it because all our people were busy. We 
were obliged to stop to look for him; everybody went and 

1 The south fork of Chicago River. 

^ Mud or Portage Lake. For an early map of this region, see Wis. Hist. 
Coll., XVIII. 146. 

^ Nicolas Daneaux, sieur de Muy, came to Canada in 1685 and served with 
distinction in King William's War (1689-1697). After the commencement of 
the colony of Louisiana, he was in 1707 chosen governor, but died on his way to 
assimie his post. 



348 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1698 

several gun-shots were fired, but he could not be found. It 
was a rather unfortunate accident ; we were pressed for time, 
owing to the lateness of the season, and the waters being 
very low, we saw quite well, that as we were obliged to carry 
our baggage and our canoe, it would take a long time to reach 
the Illinois. This compelled us to separate. Messieurs de 
Montigny, de Tonty, and Davion continued the portage on 
the following day, while I with four other men went back to 
look for the little boy. While retracing my steps I met 
Fathers Pinet and Binneteau, who were on the way to the 
Illinois with two Frenchmen and a savage. We looked for 
the boy during the whole of that day also, without finding him. 
As it was the day before the feast of All Saints,^ I was com- 
pelled to go to Chikagou for the night with our people. After 
they had heard mass and performed their devotions early in 
the morning, they spent the whole of that day also looking 
for the little boy without getting sight of him. It was very 
difficult to find him in the long grass, for this country consists 
of nothing but prairies with a few groves of trees. We were 
afraid to set fire to the long grass lest we might burn the boy. 
Monsieur de Montigny had told me to remain only one day, 
because the cold weather pressed us, and this compelled me to 
proceed, after giving orders to Brother Alexandre to seek him 
and to take some Frenchmen who were at Chikagou.^ 

I started m the afternoon of the 2nd of November. I 
crossed the portage and passed the night at the river or 
branch^ of the River of the Illinois. We descended the river 
as far as an island. During the night we were surprised to see 
a slight fall of snow, and on the following day the river was 
frozen over in several places. We had therefore to break 
the ice and haul the canoe, because there was no open water. 
This compelled us to leave our canoe and go by land to seek 
Monsieur de Montigny, whom we met on the following day, 
the 5th of the month, at the Isle aux Cerfs. They had al- 
ready gone over two leagues of portage. We still had four 

1 All Saints' Day is November 1. 

2 The boy came in to the mission house thirteen days after he was lost. 
He was utterly exhausted and out of his mind. See letter of Thaumer de la 
Source in Shea, Early Voyages (Albany, 1861), p. 85. 

' The River Des Plaines. 



16981 THE VOYAGE OF ST. COSME 349 

leagues to do, as far as Mont Joliet. This took us three days, 
and we arrived on the 8th of the month. 

From the Isle a la Cache to the said Mont Jolliet, a dis- 
tance of seven leagues, everything has to be portaged, as there 
is no water in the river except in the spring. The banks of 
this river are very agreeable ; they consist of prairies bounded 
by small hills and very fine thickets; there are numbers of 
deer in them and along the river are great quantities of game 
of all kinds, so that after crossing the portage one of our men, 
while taking a walk, procured enough to provide us with an 
abundant supper as well as breakfast on the following day. 
Mont Jolliet is a very fine mound of earth in the prairie to 
the right, descending a little. It is about thirty feet high. 
The savages say that at the time of the great deluge one of 
their ancestors escaped, and that this smaU mountain is his 
canoe which he upset there. 

On leaving Mont Jolliet we proceeded about two leagues 
by water. We remained two whole days at our short portage, 
about a quarter of a league in length. As one of our men 
named Charbonneau had killed several turkeys and bustards in 
the morning, together with a deer, we were very glad to give 
our people a good meal and to let them rest for a day. On 
the tenth we made the short portage and foimd half a league 
of water, after which two men carried the canoe for about a 
league, the others walking behind, each carrying his load; 
and we then embarked for a league and a half. We slept at 
a short portage, five or six arpents in length. On the eleventh, 
after making the short portage, we came to the river Tea- 
tiki,^ which is the true river of the Illinois, that which we 
descended being only a distant branch. We put all our bag- 
gage in the canoe, which two men paddled, while Monsieur 
de Tonty and ourselves, with the remainder of our men, pro- 
ceeded by land, walking all the time through fine prairies. 
We came to the village of the Peangichias,^ Miamis who 
formerly dwelt at the falls of the Migipi and who have for 
some years been settled at this place. There was no one in 

^The present Kankakee River. 

^ This tribe was known to American settlers as the Piankeshaw. It was 
a branch of the Miami that later removed to the lower Wabash, and settled in 
the neighborhood of Vincennes. 



350 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1698 

the village, for all had gone hunting. That day we slept near 
Massane/ a small river which falls into the River of the Il- 
linois. On that day we began to see oxen, and on the mor- 
row two of our men killed four ; but as these animals are in 
poor condition at this season we contented ourselves with 
taking the tongues only. These oxen seem to me to be larger 
than ours ; they have a hump on their backs ; their legs are 
very short ; the head is very large and so covered with long 
hair that it is said a bullet cannot penetrate it. We after- 
ward saw some nearly every day during our journey as far 
as the Acansgas. 

After experiencing considerable difficulty during three 
days in carrying and hauling our baggage in the canoe, owing 
to the river being rapid, low, and full of rocks, we arrived 
on the 15th of November at the place called the Old Fort. 
This is a rock on the bank of the river, about a hundred 
feet high, whereon Monsieur de la Salle had caused a fort to 
be built, which has been abandoned,^ because the savages 
went to reside about twenty-five leagues further down. We 
slept a league above it, where we found two cabins of sav- 
ages ; we were consoled on finding a woman who was a thor- 
oughly good Christian. The distance between Chicagou and 
the fort is considered to be about thirty leagues. There we 
commenced the navigation, that contmues to be always good 
as far as the fort of Permetaoui,^ where the savages now are 
and which we reached on the 19th of November. We found 
there Reverend Father Binetot and Reverend Father Marais 
who, owing to their not being laden when they left Chigaou, 
had arrived six or seven days before us. We also saw Rever- 
end Father Pinet there. All the Reverend Jesuit Fathers 
gave us the best possible reception. Their sole regret was to 
see us compelled to leave so soon on account of the frost. 
We took there a Frenchman who had lived three years with 
the Acansgas and who knows a little of their language. 

This mission of the Illinois seems to me the finest that the 
Reverend Jesuit Fathers have up here, for without counting 

1 Now known as Mazon Creek in Grundy County, Illinois. 

2 Fort St. Louis on the rock called Le Rocher. See Tonty's Narrative^ 
p. 290, note 4, ante. 

^ This post was on Peoria Lake, whose early name was Pimetoui. 



1698] THE VOYAGE OF ST. COSME 351 

all the children who are baptized, a number of adults have 
abandoned all their superstitions and live as thoroughly good 
Christians; they frequently attend the sacraments and are 
married in church. We had not the consolation of seeing all 
these good Christians often, for they were all scattered down 
the bank of the river for the purpose of hunting. We saw only 
some women savages married to Frenchmen, who edified us 
by their modesty and their assiduity in going to prayer sev- 
eral times a day in the chapel. We chanted high mass in it, 
with deacon and sub-deacon, on the feast of the Presentation 
of the most Blessed Virgin,^ and after commending our voy- 
age to her and having placed ourselves under her protection 
we left the Illinois on the 22nd of November — we had to 
break the ice for two or three arpents to get out of Lake Pem- 
steoui. We had four canoes: that of Monsieur de Tonty, 
our two, and another belonging to five young voyageurs who 
were glad to accompany us, partly on account of Monsieur 
de Tonty, who is universally beloved by all the voyageurs, 
and partly also to see the country. Reverend Fathers Bin- 
neteau and Pinet also came with us a part of the way, as they 
wished to go and spend the whole winter with their savages. 
On the first day after our departure we came to the cabin 
of Rouenssas, the most notable of the Illinois chiefs and a 
very good Christian. ^ He received us with the politeness, 
not of a savage but of a well-bred Frenchman. He led us 
to his cabin and made us sleep there. He presented us with 
three deer, one of which he gave to Monsieur [de Tonty], 
another to the Father, and the third to us. We learned from 
him that the Chaouanons, the Chikachas, and the Kakinan- 
pols^ had attacked the Kaoukias,^ an Illinois tribe about five 
or six leagues below the mouth of the river of the Illinois 
along the Migissipi, and that they had killed ten men and taken 
nearly one hundred slaves, both women and children. As 
this Rouensa is very quick-witted, we thought we should give 

^ November 21. 

2 This chief, usually called Rouensa or Roinsac, was head of the Kaskaskia 
branch of the Illinois. He removed about the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 
tury to the Kaskaskia River, where the village was frequently called Rouensac. 

^ The Shawnee, the Chickasaw, and possibly the Kickapoo. 

* The Cahokia, a branch of the Illinois, who lived in the bottom lands op- 
posite the site of St Louis. 



352 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1698 

him some presents, to induce him to facihtate our passage 
through the Illinois tribes, not so much for this first voyage 
as for the others, when we should not be so strong; for all 
these nations up here are very suspicious and easily become 
jealous when we go to other nations. We therefore presented 
him with a collar,^ to show him that we formed an alliance 
mth him and with all his nation, and that as he was a Chris- 
tian he should have no greater pleasure than in seeing the 
other nations participate in the happiness he enjoyed, and 
for that reason he was obliged to facilitate as much as he could 
the designs of the missionaries who were going to instruct 
them. We afterward gave them a smaU present of powder. 

On the 28th, after saying our masses, when Roiiensas and 
his family received communion at Monsieur de Montigny's, 
we left and came to a small village of savages, on disembark- 
ing at which the chief, named L'Ours,^ told us that it was not 
advisable that we should go into the Migissipi country. But 
Monsieur won him over or intimidated him by his words, 
telling him that we were sent by the Master of Life and the 
great Master of Prayer to instruct the savages whither we were 
going, and that he was hired by the Governor to accompany 
us, so that if he molested us he attacked the very person of our 
Governor. The chief made no answer to these words. We 
embarked and on the 24th we slept at another village of 
several cabins where we found one Tiret, a chief who was 
formerly famous in his nation but who has since been aban- 
doned by nearly all his people. He made several complaints 
to Monsieur de Tonty, who reproached him, saying that it 
was his evil conduct that earned hitn the hatred of his people ; 
that he had long before told him to give up his jugglery — ^for 
he is a famous sorcerer — and to pray; but that he had not 
yet done so. He afterward went to the prayers, and the 
savage promised him that he would be instructed on the fol- 
lowing day. 

On the 25th of the month we parted from Father Pinet, 
who remains in this village to spend the winter, for there are 
a good many savages here who pray, and on the 26th we came 

1 "Collar" was the French term for the belt of wampum beads, with which 
the Indians sealed alliances and treaties with the wliites and with other tribes. 

2 The Bear. 



1698] THE VOYAGE OF ST. COSME 353 

to a village whose chief was away hunting with all the young 
men. Some old men came to meet us, weeping for the death 
of their people killed by the Chaouanons. We went to their 
cabins, and they told us that we ought not to pass by the 
Chaouchias with the Chaouanons, to whom, they said. Mon- 
sieur de Tonty had given arms and who had attacked them. 
Monsieur de Tonty replied that he had left the Illinois coun- 
try more than three years before and could not have seen the 
Chaouanons to give them arms. But the savages persisted 
in saying several things without reason, and we saw very well 
that they were evil-minded, and that we should leave as soon 
as possible, before the arrival of the yoimg men who were to re- 
turn the following morning. Therefore we went out abruptly, 
and when Monsieur de Tonty told them he feared not the 
men, they said that they pitied our young men, who would 
all be killed. Monsieur de Tonty replied that they had seen 
him with the Iroquois and knew what he could do and how 
many men he could kill.^ It must be confessed that all 
these savages have a very high esteem for him. He had only 
to be in one's company to prevent any insult being offered. 
We embarked at once, and went to sleep at a place five or 
six leagues from that village. 

On the following day we were detained for some hours, 
owing to quantities of ice drifting down the river, and on the 
28th we landed at a village consisting of about twenty cabins, 
where we saw the woman chief. This woman enjoys great 
repute in her nation, owing to her wit and her great liberality 
and because, as she has many sons and sons-in-law who are 
good hunters, she often gives feasts, which is the way to ac- 
quire the esteem of the savages and of all their nations in a 
short time. We said mass in this village in the cabin of a 
soldier named La Viollette, who was married to a savage and 
whose child Monsieur de Montigny baptized. Monsieur de 
Tonty related to the woman chief what had been said to us 
in the last village. She disapproved of it all, and told him 
that the whole of her tribe were greatly rejoiced at seeing him 
once more, as well as us, but that they regretted that they 
could not be sure of seeing him again and of having him longer 
with them. 

^ See pp. 291-294, ante, for Tonty's experiences among the Iroquois. 



354 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1698 

We left this village and travelled about eight leagues be- 
tween the 29th of November and the 3rd of December. We 
were detained at the same place by the ice, which completely 
barred the river. During that time we had an abundance of 
provisions, for no one need fast on that river, so great is the 
quantity of game of all kinds : swans, bustards, or duck. The 
river is bordered by a belt of very fine timber, which is not 
very wide, so that one soon reaches beautiful prairies, contain- 
ing numbers of deer. Charbonneau killed several while we 
were detained, and others killed some also. Navigation is 
not very easy on this river when the water is low. We were 
sometimes obliged to walk with a portion of our people, while 
the others propelled the canoes, not without trouble, for they 
were often obliged to get into the water, which was already 
very cold. While we were detained. Reverend Father Bin- 
netost, whom we had left at the village of the woman chief, 
came to see us, and after spending a day with us he returned 
to the village for the feast of St. Xavier.- On that day a 
heavy gale broke up a portion of the ice and we proceeded 
about a league. On the following day we obtained some 
wooden canoes, at a place where there were five cabins of 
savages, and after breaking with them about three or four 
arpents of ice that barred the river, that was as much as four 
fingers thick and could bear a man's weight, we afterward 
had free navigation to the Migissipi, which we reached on 
the 5th of December after journeying about eighty leagues 
from the fort of Pemiteouit. 

The Migissipi is a fine, large river flowing from the north. 
It divides into several channels at the spot where the River 
of the Illinois faUs into it, forming very beautiful islands. It 
winds several times, but seems always to keep its course to 
the south as far as the Acansgas. It is bordered by very fine 
woods. The banks on both sides seem about thirty feet high, 
which does not prevent its overflowing them far into the woods 
in the spring, when the waters are high, with the exception 
of some hills or very high places that are sometimes met with. 
All along the river are numbers of oxen, bears, deer, and also 
a great many turkeys. We were always so well supplied with 
meat, while descending the river as far as the Acansgas, that 

1 December 3. 



1698] THE VOYAGE OF ST. COSME 355 

we passed many herds of oxen without attempting to fire at 
them. 

On the 6th of December we embarked on the Micissipi, and 
after proceeding about six leagues we came to the great River 
of the Myssouries, which flows from the west, and is so muddy 
that it dirties the waters of the Micissipi, which until they 
meet that river are very clear. It is reported that there are 
great numbers of savages on the upper part of that river. 
Three or four leagues lower down we saw, on the left bank, a 
rock on which some figures are painted and for which the 
savages are said to have a certain veneration.^ They are 
now nearly effaced. We camped that day at the Kaouchias, 
who were still in grief in consequence of the attack made upon 
them by the Chikachas and the Chaouanons. On our ar- 
rival they all began to weep. They did not seem to us to be 
so evil-intentioned or so wicked as some Illinois savages had 
sought to make us believe. The poor people excited our pity 
more than our fears. 

On the following day about noon we reached the Ta- 
marois. These savages had received timely warning of our 
arrival through some of the Kaoukias, who carried the news 
to them, and as a year before they had molested Monsieur de 
Tonty's men, they were afraid and all the children and women 
fled from the village. The chief came with some of his people 
to receive us on the water's edge and to invite us to their 
village, but we did not go, because we wished to prepare for 
the feast of the Conception. We camped on the other side 
of the river on the right bank. Monsieur de Tonty went to 
the village, and after re-assuring them to some extent, he 
brought the chief, who begged us to go and see him in his 
village. We promised to do so and on the following day, 
the feast of the Conception,^ after saying our masses, we went 
with Monsieur de Tonty and seven of our men well armed. 
They came to meet us and led us to the chief's cabin. All 
the women and children were there, and no sooner had we 
entered the cabin than the young men and the women broke 
away a portion of it to see us. They had never seen black 
gowns, except for a few days Reverend Father Gravier, who 

1 See p. 249, note 1, ante. 
^ December 8. 



356 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1698 

had made a journey to their country. They gave us food and 
we gave them a small present, as we had done to the Kaouchias. 
We told them that it was to show them that our hearts were 
without guile, and that we wished to effect an alliance with 
them, so that they might give a good reception to our people 
who would pass there and supply them with food. They re- 
ceived the gift with many thanks and after that we returned 
to our camp. 

The Tamarois were camped on an island about [blank in 
MS.] lower than the village, probably in order to obtain 
wood more easily than in their village, which is on the edge 
of a prairie and some distance away, probably through fear 
of their enemies. We were unable to ascertain whether they 
were very numerous; there seemed to be a great many of 
them, although the majority of their people were away hunt- 
ing. There would be enough for a rather fine mission, by 
bringing to it the Kaouchias, who live quite near, and the 
Mechigamias, who live a httle lower down the Migissipi, and 
who are said to be pretty numerous. We did not see them 
because they had gone into the interior to hunt. The three 
villages speak the Illinois languages. 

We left the Tamarois in the afternoon of the 8th of De- 
cember. On the 10th we saw a hill at a distance of about 
three arpents from the Migissipi, on the right side going down. 
After being detained for some time on the 11th by rain, we 
arrived early on the 12th at Cap St. Antoine,^ where we 
spent the remainder of the day and the whole of the next, 
collecting gum which we needed. There are many pines 
between Cap St. Antoine and a river lower down, and this 
is the only place where I saw any between Chikagou and the 
Acansgas. Cap St. Antoine is a rocky bluff on the left bank 
going down. Some arpents below it is another rock on the 
right bank, which projects into the river and towards an 
island or rather a rock about one hundred feet high, which 
makes the river turn very short and narrows the channel, 

1 Cape St. Antoine appears to have been just above the Grand Eddy in 
Perry County, Missouri. The present name of the creek entering at this point — 
Cape Cinq Homme Creek — is a corruption of the name St. Cosme, by which it 
appears on early maps. It seems, therefore, to have been named for our nar- 
rator. 



1698] THE VOYAGE OF ST. COSME 357 

causing a whirlpool in which it is said canoes are lost during 
the high waters. On one occasion fourteen Miamis perished 
there. This has caused the spot to be dreaded by the savages, 
who are in the habit of offering sacrifices to that rock when 
they pass there. We saw none of the figures that we were 
told we should find there. We ascended this island or rock 
with some difficulty by a hill and we planted a fine cross on 
it, chanting the hymn Vexilla Regis, ^ while our people fired 
three discharges from their guns. God grant that the Cross, 
that has never yet been known in this place, may triumph 
here, and that our Lord may abundantly spread the merits 
of His Holy Passion, so that all these savages may know and 
serve him. Canes begin to be seen at Cap St. Antoine. There 
is also a kind of a tree, as large as and similar to the linden, 
which exudes a sort of sweet-scented gum. Along the Migis- 
sipi also grow a number of fruit-trees unknown in Canada, 
some of whose fruit we still found occasionally on the trees. 
I forgot to state that as soon as we were on the Micissipi we 
no longer perceived that it was the winter season, and the 
further we descended the river the greater we found the 
heat. The nights however are cool. 

We left Cap St. Antoine on the 14th of December and on 
the 15th we slept a league above the Ouabache.^ This is 
a large and fine river on the left of the Miyissipi, which flows 
from the north ; it is said to be five hundred leagues in length 
and to take its source near the Sonontouans.^ By this river 
one goes to the country of the Chaouanons who trade with 
the English.^ On the 16th we left the Ouabache, and noth- 
ing particular happened to us nor did we observe anything 
remarkable until we reached the Akansgas, except that we 
killed a certain bird almost as large as a swan, with a beak about 
a foot long and a throat of extraordinary size. Some are 
caid to have throats large enough to hold a bushel of corn. 
The one we killed was small and its throat could easily have 
contained half a bushel of corn. It is said that this bird 

1 See p. 218, note 1, ante. ^ Ohio; see p. 250, note 1. 

*The habitat of the Seneca (Sonontouans) was on the headwaters of the 
Allegheny River. 

*The present Cumberland River was formerly known as the Shawnee 
(Chaouanon) River. 



358 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1698 

places itself in a current and by opening its great beak it 
catches the fish which it stuffs into its throat.^ Our French 
called this bird Chictek. On the 22nd we came to a small 
river 2 on the left going down, which is said to be the road 
leading to the Chikachas, a numerous tribe. It is believed 
that the distance from this small river to their villages is not 
great. 

On the 24th we camped early, in order that our people 
might prepare for the great festival of Christmas. We erected 
a small chapel and chanted a high mass at midnight, at which 
all our French performed their devotions. Christmas Day 
was spent in saying our masses, all of which were attended by 
our people, and in the afternoon we chanted vespers. We 
were greatly surprised to see the earth tremble about one 
o'clock in the afternoon, and though the earthquake did not 
last long it was severe enough and was easily felt by every- 
body.^ 

On the following day we started at a somewhat late hour, 
because we were obliged to wait for a little savage whom 
Monsieur de Tonty had brought with him, and who on the 
previous day had gone to the woods to look for fruit and had 
lost himself. We thought he might have been captured by 
some Chicachas or Acansgas warriors; this compelled us to 
watch and be on guard all night. But we were greatly re- 
joiced when we saw him return next day. We started and 
slept at the place where the Kappas, a tribe of the Acansgas, 
formerly dwelt. 

On St. John's day,^ after travelling about five leagues, 
we observed some wooden canoes and a savage at the water's 
edge. As we were near and feared that he would take to flight 
on seeing us, one of our men took the calumet and sang. He 
was heard in the village, which was close by. Some fled, while 
the others brought the calumet and came to receive us at the 
water's edge. On approaching us they rubbed us and then 
rubbed themselves, which is a mark of attention among sav- 

1 This is the pelican (pelecanus erythrorhynchos). 

2 The present Wolf River of Tennessee, at whose mouth stands Memphis. 
This was known to the French explorers as Riviere a Margot. 

' This was the region of the great earthquake of 1811. 
* December 27. 



1698] THE VOYAGE OF ST. COSME 359 

ages. They took us on their shoulders and carried us into 
the cabin of a chief. A hill of heav^^ soil had to be ascended, 
and as he who carried me was sinking under the burden, I 
feared that he would let me fall, so I got down in spite of him 
and walked up the hill. But as soon as I reached the top I 
was compelled to get on his back to be carried to the cabin. 
The young men brought all our things into the same cabin. 
Some time afterward they came to sing the calumet for us, 
and in the evening of the following day they carried us to 
another cabin, where they made Monsieur de Tonty and the 
three of us sit on bear-skins; four chiefs each took a calumet 
that they had placed before us, and the others began to sing 
and beat drums made of earthenware jars over which a skin 
is stretched. Each holds in his hand a gourd containing seeds 
that make a noise, and as they sing in accord with the sound 
of the drum and the rattle of the gourds, the result is a music 
that is not the most agreeable. During this harmony a sav- 
age who stood behind us bleated. We were soon tired of this 
ceremony, which they perform for all strangers to whom they 
wish to show consideration, and it must be endured unless 
one wishes to be deemed evil-hearted or as harboring wicked 
designs. After remaining a certain time, we put some of our 
people in our place, and they had the pleasure of hearing the 
lullaby throughout the night. On the following day they 
made us a present of a little slave and of some skins, for which 
we paid with a present of knives and other things that they 
prize highly. 

We were greatly consoled at seeing ourselves at the seat 
of our missions, but we were deeply afflicted at finding this 
nation of the Acansgas, formerly so numerous, entirely des- 
troyed by war and by disease. Not a month had elapsed 
since they had rid themselves of smallpox, which had carried 
off most of them. In the village are now nothing but graves, 
in which they were buried two together, and we estimated 
that not a hundred men were left. All the children had died, 
and a great many women. These savages seem to be of a 
very kind disposition. We were invited at every moment 
to feasts. Their honesty is extraordinary^ They transported 
all our effects to a cabin where they remained two days with- 
out anybody taking a thing, and even without a single article 



360 EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST [1698 

being lost. One of our people forgot his knife in a cabin and 
a savage at once took it to him. Polygamy is not common 
among them. We saw however in the village of the Kappas 
one of those wretches who from their youth dress as girls and 
pander to the most shameful of all vices. But this infamous 
man was not of their nation; he belonged to the Illinois, 
among whom the practice is quite common. The savages 
have an abundance of corn, of beans, and of pumpkins. As 
to meat, though they are in a country teeming with game, we 
found none in their villages, owing to the fact that they were 
weakened by disease and in continual dread of their enemies. 
They make houses like the Hurons, making use of great earth- 
enware pots instead of kettles, and of very well made jars for 
holding water. I have not yet seen savages so well formed. 
They are quite naked except that when they go out they wear 
a buffalo robe. The women and girls are partly naked, as 
among the Illinois. They wear a deer-skin hung over one 
shoulder. 

We remained two days and a half in this village, and after 
planting a Cross in it, which we told the savages was to be the 
sign of our union, we left on the 30th of November [December] 
for their other village, about nine leagues distant from this one. 
We were deeply grieved to have to part from Monsieur de 
Tonty, who was unable to come with us for various reasons. 
He would greatly have liked to accompany us to the other na- 
tions whither we were going, but his affairs compelled him to 
return as soon as possible to the Illinois country. He is the 
man who best knows these regions ; he has twice gone down to 
the sea ; he has been far inland to the most remote tribes, and 
is beloved and feared everywhere. If it be desired to have dis- 
coveries made in this country, I do not think the task could 
be confided to a more experienced man than he. I have no 
doubt, my lord, that your Grace will deem it a pleasure to 
acknowledge the obligations we owe him. 

We slept at the mouth of the river of the Acansgas,^ which 
is a fine one and distant two hundred and fifty or three hun- 
dred leagues from that of the Illinois. On the following day 
we reached the village at an early hour. Six savages came to 
meet us with the calumet, and led us to the village with the 

1 The present Arkansas River. 



1699] THE VOYAGE OF ST. COSME 361 

same ceremonies as those observed at the first one. We 
passed two days there. This village seemed to be more popu- 
lous than the first ; there were more children in it. We told 
them that we were going further down, to their neighbors and 
friends ; that they would see us often ; that they would do 
well to live together, and that they would thereby more easily 
resist their enemies. They agreed to everything and promised 
that they would try to bring with them the Osages/ who 
had come from the River of the Missouris and were on the 
upper portion of this river. We started on the 2nd of January^ 
and camped at the mouth of the river, where the French who 
were returning would allow us but one day for writing. I 
thought I should have more time to do so, as I hoped to go 
up from the Acansgas to the Illinois, but, as we are going much 
further down, I am afraid the letters we shall write after this 
will not be received this year, for the persons by whom we 
wished to send them will have left before we can reach the 
Illinois. I therefore beg your Grace to excuse me if this one 
be somewhat badly expressed, as I am so greatly pressed for 
time that I cannot even write to one of our gentlemen, to 
whom I beg you to allow me to send greetings, and to com- 
mend myself to their holy prayers. I trust your Grace will be 
pleased to grant me the same favor, and to remember before 
our Lord him who remains, with very profound respect. 

My lord. 

Your Grace's very humble and very obedient servant, 
J. F. BuissoN St. Cosme, 

Priest, unworthy Missionary. 

I have not time to reread this letter. 

1 For this tribe see p. 313, note 1, ante. " 1699. 



INDEX 



Abenaki Indians, mission for, 160 n.; 
in Illinois, 294; in fur trade, 331; 
sketch, 294 n. 

Acadia, missionary in, 338, 346 n. 

Acansgas Indians, see Quapaw In- 
dians. 

Accault (Acau), Michel, explorer, 
290, 331; sketch, 290 n. 

Acolapissa Indians, see Quinipissa In- 
dians. 

Agonstot, Onondaga chief, 291. 

Akamsea, Quapaw village, Marquette 
at, 253-257; see also Quapaw In- 
dians. 

Akansas, see Arkansas Post. 

Akensea Indians, see Quapaw Indians. 

Albany, Dutch at, 21, 30, 309 n. 

Alexandre, Brother, at Chicago, 347, 
348. 

AlgonJdn Indians, habitat, 11, 15 n.; 
intertribal relations, 15; hostiUties 
with Iroquois, 58, 63, 64. 

Algonquian stock, Indians of, 15 n., 19, 
20, 23 n., 24 n., 36 n., 45 n., 73 n., 
89 n., 95, 96, 252 n.; language, 24 n., 
25 n., 69, 96, 123, 128, 130, 135, 158, 
163, 164, 167, 170, 171, 184, 207, 
243; commerce with, 109; missions 
for, 115, 160 n. 

AHmouek Indians, see Illinois Indians. 

Allegheny River, route to, 187 n.; In- 
dians on, 357 n. 

Alligators, La Salle sees, 298. 

AUouez, Father Claude, explorer, 6; 
Lake Superior journey, 93-137, 224, 
227 n. ; Wisconsin journey, 140-160, 
224, 233, 234 n.; in lUinois, 304, 
311 n.; mentions the Mississippi, 
130, 132, 136, 223; speeches, 109, 
215,218-220; sketch, 96. 

Allumettes Island, in the Ottawa, 15 n. 

Alton (111.), pictographs near, 249 n. 

Amherstburg (Ont.), Indians at, 119 n. 

Amickkoick Indians, see Beaver In- 
dians. 



Amikoue Indians, see Beaver Indians. 

Anadardo Indians, see Nadao Indians. 

Anastatius, Father, see Douay. 

Andastes (Antastogue, Antastouais, 
Conestoga) Indians, intertribal re- 
lations, 181, 187, 192; sketch, 176 n. 

Andr6, Louis, Jesuit missionary, 160. 

Apples, see Wild apples. 

Appleton (Wis.), site, 150 n. 

Arkansas, Indians in, 313 n.; St. 
Cosme, 342. 

Arkansas Indians, see Quapaw Indians. 

Arkansas Post, 8, 284, 308, 311, 320, 
321, 339> 343 n. 

Arkansas River, 7; settlement on, 8, 
284, 308,1 311, 339; Marquette 
reaches, 254 n., 339; St. Cosme at, 
342,360,361; Indians on, 361. 

Arpent, term defined, 150 n. 

Assiniboin (Assinipoualac) Indians, de- 
scribed, 133, 134; Tonty among, 
284; Duluth among, 326, 330; 
sketch, 134 n. 

Assiniboine River, mouth, 133. 

Attikamegue (Poissons-blancs) In- 
dians, habitat, 134. 

Auguel, Antoine du Gay, with Henne- 
pin, 331, 332. 



BaiUoquet, Father Pierre, at Sault 
Ste. Marie, 334. 

Barbue, see Catfish. 

Barthelemy, , Sulpitian at Mon- 
treal, 169, 170. 

Basswood-trees on the Wisconsin, 236; 
on the Mississippi, 252. 

Baugis (Bogis), ChevaHer de, in lUi- 
nois, 305, 306, 311 n. 

Baye des Puants, see Green Bay. 

Beans, Indians raise, 244, 360. 

Bears, on the Ottawa route, 41; at- 
tack men, 133, 134; used as food, 
148, 197, 204; on the Mississippi, 
298, 302, 321, 354. 



363 



364 



INDEX 



Beaver (castor), in Ontario, 42, 197; 
Illinois, 257; legend of, 144; hunted, 
51, 262; eaten, 16; skins as pres- 
ents, 266, 267, 292, 293; used in de- 
fense, 60, 62; fur trade in, 46, 48, 
53, 56, 57, 59, 60, 76, 90, 269, 326; 
worn skins preferred, 73. 

Beaver (Amickkoick, Amikoue) In- 
dians, with Radisson, 58, 59; mis- 
sion for, 206. 

Beaver Lake, see Lake Nipissing. 

BeUefontaine, Sieur de, at Fort St. 
Louis, 308. 

Berdashes, among Indians, 244, 360. 

Berlin (Wis.), 84 n., 233 n. 

Beverly swamp, in Ontario, 189 n. 

Big Creek, in Ontario, 200. 

Big (Michigame) Lake, in Arkansas, 
253 n. 

Big Osage River, 313 n. 

Binneteau (Binnetost), Julien, mis- 
sionary, 346, 348, 350, 351, 354; 
sketch, 346 n. 

Black Hawk, Sauk chief, 81 n. 

Black River, Huron on, 95. 

Blackberries, present of, 178. 

Blair, Emma Helen, Indian Tribes of 
the Upper Mississippi and Region of 
the Great Lakes, 71, 72, 215. 

Blueberries, present of, 178, 266. 

Bodleian Library, Radisson manu- 
scripts in, 32. 

Bois Brule River, route via, 331, 

Boisrondet, Sieur de, with Tonty, 295. 

Bolton, Herbert E., discovers site of 
La Salle's lost colony, 317 n.; site of 
his death, 319; Spanish Exploration 
in the Southwest, 228 n. 

Boughton Hill (N. Y.), Indian village 
on, 179 n. 

Brasse, term defined, 104. 

Brazos River, La Salle's death on, 
319 n. 

Bristol township (N. Y.), spring in, 
182 n. 

British, see English. 

British Museum, manuscripts in, 32. 

Brittany, explorers from, 163, 164. 

Brul6 River, see Bois Brul6 River. 

Buffalo (wild oxen), hunted, 48, 51, 84; 
Sioux word for, 48 n.; Spanish word, 
302 n.; described, 49, 52, 237, 238, 
350; on the Ottawa, 57; on the 



Illinois, 257, 266, 350; in Wisconsin, 
264; at Chicago, 265; among the 
Quapaw, 298, 302; on the Missis- 
sippi, 354; robes, 85, 255, 266; 
tongues, 267, 350. 

Buffalo Indians, 48. 

Butterfield, Consul W., History of the 
Discovery of the Northwest by Jean 
Nicolet in 1634, 14. 



Cache, made by Indians, 41; at Chi- 
cago, 347; described, 289 n. 

Cactus, on the Mississippi, 248. 

Cadadoquis Indians, see Kadohadacho 
Indians. 

Caddoan Indians, stock, 312 n., 314 n. 

Cadillac, Antoine La Mothe, sieur de, 
at Detroit, 119 n. 

Cahokia (Kaoukia) Indians, branch of 
the Illinois, 297 n.; habitat, 351 n., 
355; intertribal relations, 351, 355; 
mission for, 340, 356. 

Calumet Rapids, in the Ottawa, 57. 

Calumets, described, 49 n., 84, 245; 
made of stone, 62, 75 n.; ceremonial 
use, 75 n., 77, 78, 85, 86, 130, 239, 
240, 244, 245, 253, 255, 288, 289, 
298, 301, 311, 316, 332, 358, 360. 

Canada (New France), founders, 3, 4; 
struggle with the Iroquois, 15 n., 29; 
captured by Enghsh (1629), 11, 19; 
importance of fur trade in, 29, 35, 
63, 69, 309 n.; governors, 6, 35, 70, 
71, 77, 100, 163, 168, 227 n.; in- 
tendant, 213; first bishop, 169, 337. 

Canandaigua (N. Y.), 182 n. 

Canes, on the Mississippi, 251, 302, 357. 

Canoes, description of, 172, 173; of 
wood, 300, 309. 

Cape Cinq Homme Creek, 356 n. 

Cape Diggs (Digue), on Hudson 
Strait, 73. 

Cape St. Antoine (St. Cosme) on the 
Mississippi, 356, 357. 

Cape St. Ignace, Allouez passes, 143. 

Capiche Indians, habitat, 314. 

Cappa Indians, see Quapaw Indians. 

Carheil (Careil), Father fitienne, 342 n. 

Carignan regiment, arrives in Canada, 
69, 100 n., 342 n. 

Carolina, Indians near, 89; Tonty ex- 
plores, 307. 



INDEX 



365 



Castor, see Beaver. 

Cat Rapids, see Les Chats. 

Cataraqui, see Fort Frontenac. 

Catfish (barbue), in the St. Lawrence, 
174; in the Mississippi, 237. 

Cattle, see Buffalo. 

Caughnawaga, mission colony, 91 n. 

CaveUer, , La Salle's nephew, 317. 

CaveUer, Jean, brother of La Salle, 
164, 168, 311, 312, 315, 317-319; 
goes to Ilhnois, 320; narrative, 340. 

Cayuga Creek, 287 n. 

Cenis (Hasinai) Indians, habitat, 312 n. 

Chachagwessiou, an Ilhnois Indian, 
263, 266. 

Chagouamikon Bay, see Chequamegon 
Bay. 

Chakchiuma (Chachouma) Indians, 
hostihties with, 313. 

Champlain, Samuel de, explorer, 4, 11, 
12, 223. 

Chaouanon Indians, see Shawnee In- 
dians. 

Charbonneau, , with St. Cosme, 

349, 354. 

Charles II., Radisson serves, 31, 32. 

Chartres (France), native of, 169 n. 

Cheneaux Islands, of Lake Hiu-on, 143. 

Chequamegon (Chagouamikon) Bay, 
81; Indian refugees at, 36 n., 73, 96, 
107, 116 n.; mission on, 6, 96, 97, 
107, 115-123, 141; Allouez on, 107, 
115, 116; Marquette on, 141, 224, 
229; village on, 116 n., 119. 

Cherbourg (France), native, 11. 

Cherokee Indians, 252 n. 

Chestnuts, in Ontario, 196. 

Chicago (Chikagou), pine-trees at, 
356; Indians, 23 n. ; battle near, 152 
n.; fort at, 307; mission, 345-347; 
Marquette winters at, 261, 265-268, 
270, 271; St. Cosme at, 338, 345- 
348; see also Chicago-Des Plaines 
Portage and Chicago River. 

Chicago-Des Plaines Portage, 8; La 
Salle, 296; Marquette at, 225, 257, 
265, 268; St. Cosme, 347, 348. 

Chicago Historical Society, 341. 

Chicago River, route via, 7, 296, 347; 
Tonty at, 304, 307; Indian villages 
on, 346. 

Chickasaw (Chikachas) Indians, habi- 
tat, 252 n., 297, 358; aUied tribes, 



313 n.; intertribal relations, 351, 
355. 

Chictek, word for peUcan, 358. 

Chikachas Indians, see Chickasaw In- 
dians. 

China, route to, 164, 168, 223, 227; 
missionary in, 340. 

Chincapin, on the Mississippi, 248. 

Chiouanon Indians, see Shawnee In- 
dians. 

Chippewa County (Mich.), 143. 

Chippewa (Ojibway, Outchibouec, 
Saulteur, Sauteux) Indians, names, 
207; first met, 23, 24; intertribal 
relations, 50, 51, 58, 73 n., 89, 90; 
description of, 50; hunting-party, 
215; mission for, 135, 207; sketch, 
23 n. 

Chitimacha Indians, murder St. Cosme, 
340. 

Choctaw Indians, 301 n., 308 n., 313 n. 

Choye Indians, Tonty among, 314. 

Christinaux (Cree, Kilistinon, Kiris- 
tinon) Indians, habitat, 24, 46, 133; 
intertribal relations, 48, 50-52, 134 
n.; Radisson visits, 50, 51; reports 
on Hudson Bay, 64, 133; character- 
ized, 134; mission for, 134; fur trade 
party, 206, 207; sketch, 24 n. 

Citruelles, see Pumpkins. 

Colbert, Jean Baptiste, French minis- 
ter, 213, 286, 329 n. 

Company of New France, 15, 164. 

Conception River, name for Missis- 
sippi, 230. 

Cond6, Louis de Bourbon, Prince de, 
French general, 329 n. 

Conestoga Indians, see Andastes In- 
dians. 

Conti, Prince de, 286. 

Copper, in Lake Superior, 105, 113, 
136, 191; inlUinois, 303; transporta- 
tion of, 192. 

Coroa Indians, see Koroa Indians. 

Coronado, Francisco Vasquez de, ex- 
plorations, 228 n. 

Cottonwood-trees, on the Mississippi, 
252. 

Courcelles, Daniel de Remy, sieur de, 
governor of New France, 78, 168; 
encourages La Salle, 168, 169; 
sketch, 168 n. 

Coureurs des bois, edict against, 330. 



366 



INDEX 



Couture, , in Illinois, 311, 312. 

Coyne, James H., editor, 166, 200 n., 

209 n. 
Cramoisy, Sebastien, publisher, 13, 97, 

216. 
Cranberries, in Ontario, 196. 
Cree Indians, see Christinaux Indians. 
Cumberland (Chaouanon, Shawnee) 

River, Indians on, 90 n., 357. 
"Cut Tails" Indians, see Kiskakon 

Indians, 



Dablon, Father Claude, at Sault Ste. 
Marie, 141, 207; in Wisconsin, 224; 
narrative, 227, 228, 261, 269-280; 
superior, 261, 262, 269. 

Dakota, Indians of, 24 n. 

Dakotan (Siouan) stock, Indians of, 
16 n., 254 n. 

Davion, Father Antoine, missionary, 
338, 339, 342 n., 346, 348. 

Decharges, term explained, 42 n. 

Deer, kiUed, 51, 196, 202, 204, 263; 
drowned, 189; abundance of, 197; 
near Lake Chicago, 268; on Illinois 
River, 257, 266, 349, 351, 354; near 
Lake Erie, 197, 201; Lake Ontario, 
188; on Mississippi River, 237, 298, 
354; in Wisconsin, 236, 263, 264. 

Delaware (Loup) Indians, habitat, 181 
n.; on DenonviUe's expedition, 308. 

Delaware River, Indians on, 181 n. 

Delta County (Mich.), 343 n., 344 n. 

DenonviUe, Jacque Rene de Brisay, 
marquis, governor of Canada, 306- 
308, 312; expedition against the' 
Iroquois, 70, 306 n., 308-310, 327, 
334 n.; leaves Canada, 71; sketch, 
306 n. 

De Pere (Wis.), mission at, 97, 150 n., 
225, 262 n., 344 n. 

Des Moines River, Indians on, 239 n. 

De Soto, Hernando, death, 254 n. 

Des Plaines River, route via, 7, 347, 
348; described, 349; see also Chi- 
cago-Des Plaines Portage. 

Des Puans River, see Fox River. 

Detour, in Chippewa County (Mich.), 
143. 

Detroit River, discovered, 5; settle- 
ment on, 119 n.; Tonty at, 287, 308, 
309; Duluth at, 309, 311. 



Dogs, 322; used in sacrifices, 112, 134; 
eaten at feasts, 182, 242, 285, 308. 

DoUard, Des Ormeaux de, defends 
Long Sault, 99 n. 

Dollier de Casson, Frangois, explora- 
tions, 5, 161-209, 223; praises GaU- 
nee's narrative, 165; among Nipis- 
sing, 167; illness, 177; sketch, 164. 

Door County (Wis.), portage through, 
263 n., 295 n. ; village in, 344 n. 

Douay, Father Anastase, with Cave- 
Her, 311; with La SaUe, 217-219; 
confesses miu-derers, 320; sketch, 
317 n. 

Douglas Coimty (Wis.), stream in, 
331 n. 

Druillettes, Gabriel, Jesuit missionary, 
160. 

Ducks, on Fox River, 232; on Illinoia 
River, 257, 268, 269, 354; on Mil- 
waukee River, 345. 

Du Haut, , La SaUe's miu-derer, 

317-319; killed, 320. 

Duluth, Daniel Greysolon, sieur, ex- 
plorations, 7, 323-334; rescues Hen- 
nepin, 287 n.; on DenonviUe's ex- 
pedition, 309-311; sketch, 325-328. 

Duluth (Minn.), 328. 

Dutch, at Albany, 21 ; rescue Radisson, 
30; as interpreters, 171, 181, 184, 
187, 190; trade with Seneca, 182, 
183, 188, 192, 193; as guides, 195, 
196; in Northwest fur trade, 309 n., 
327, 331. 



Earthquake, on the Mississippi, 358. 
Eclipse of sun, noted by AUouez, 150, 

151. 
Eland, see Moose. 
Elgin County (Ontario), 202 n. 
Elk, on the Illinois, 257; drowned, 189. 
Elm-trees, on the Mississippi, 252. 
English, capture Canada, 11, 19; take 

fort, 287 n.; in Hudson Bay, 326, 

345 n.; in fur trade, 309, 327, 328, 

331, 357. 
Enjalran, Jean, Jesuit missionary, 334. 
Erie (Presque Isle, Pa.), route via, 

187 n. 
Escanaba (Mich.), 344 n. 
Esquimaux life, 73. 
Essex Coimty (Ontario), 202 n. 



INDEX 



367 



Faillon, Abbe Michel E., Histoire de la 
Colonie Frangaise en Canada, 209. 

Falconer, Thomas, On the Discovery of 
the Mississippi, 285. 

Fenelon, Frangois de Sahgnac, abb^ 
de, in America, 163, 171 n.; sketch, 
193 n. 

Fire Nation Indians, see Mascoutin In- 
dians. 

First landing isle, Radisson on, 53, 54. 

Fish Creek, on Chequamegon Bay, 
116 n. 

Florida, exploration toward, 169. 

Folle Avoine Indians, see Menominee 
Indians. 

Fort Beanharnois, among the Sioux, 
341. 

Fort Crdvecoeur, built, 289; destroyed, 
290 n. 

Fort des Sables, in New York, 310. 

Fort Detroit, see Fort St. Joseph. 

Fort Frontenac, La Salle at, 286, 287- 
291, 296; La Forest, 306; Denon- 
ville, 310; Duluth, 327; sketch, 286 n. 

Fort Gratiot, site, 309. 

Fort Prud'homme, location, 297; La 
Salle at, 304. 

Fort St. Antoine, Mississippi post, 70. 

Fort St. Etienne, foimded, 308 n.; 
see also Arkansas Post. 

Fort St. Joseph, at Detroit, 309, 327. 

Fort St. Louis, on the Illinois, 8, 97, 
284, 296 n., 302, 307; built, 305; 
Tonty commands, 305, 306, 310; 
Cavelier'sparty at, 311; abandoned, 
350. 

Fort Wayne (Ind.), 342 n. 

Fox (Outagami, Renard, Reynards) 
Indians, original home, 170, 171; 
Wisconsin habitat, 128, 332 n., 344; 
village, 81 n., 146, 345; numbers, 
128, 151; customs, 129; rehgion, 
113; intertribal relations, 73 n., 76, 
81, 152-154, 344; Perrot among, 71, 
81, 82; Allouez, 97, 146 n., 149, 151- 
155; hostile to French, 338, 344; 
sketch, 76 n. 

Fox (Pesioui, Pestekouy) River (lU.), 
338, 345 n. 

Fox (Des Puans, St. Francis) River 
(Wis.), 6, 7, 12, 147 n., 149, 150 n.; 
rapids, 150, 224, 233; descent of, 
158; Indian villages on, 45 n., 84 n.. 



150, 332 n.; Marquette on, 232-235, 
263; upper river, 151 n., 154 n., 155; 
route via, 338, 344. 

Fox- Wisconsin Portage, 7, 8, 344; 
Marquette at, 235. 

Franciscans, see Recollects. 

Franquehn, Jean Baptiste, map, 305 n. 

Fremin, Father Jacques, among the 
Iroquois, 181. 

French, Benjamin F., editor, 285. 

French archives, 283, 285; see also 
Paris. 

French Creek, in Pennsylvania, 187 n. 

French River (des Franyais), aflHuent 
of Georgian Bay, 42 n., 102, 208. 

Frontenac, Louis de Buade, Count de, 
governor of Canada, 71, 72, 193 n., 
223, 286, 293; armorial bearings, 
287 n. ; sends JoUiet and Marquette, 
227, 228; superseded, 305 n.; re- 
turns, 306 n., 327; patron of Duluth, 
325, 327, 334 n.; sketch, 227. 

Fur-trade, in the Northwest, 5, 6, 73, 
191, 284, 326; at Montreal, 34, 63; 
Three Rivers, 29, 30, 34; impor- 
tance to Canada, 29, 31, 35, 63, 69; 
preparations for, 87, 90-92; de- 
scribed, 80; furs biu-ned, 70, 71; 
rivab-y in, 309, 327, 331; prices, 207. 



Gabriel, Father, see La Ribourde. 

GaHn^e, Rene de Brehant de, selected 
to go on expedition, 170; explora- 
tions, 5, 161-209, 223, 224; manu- 
script, 165, 166; map, 193, 195, 202, 
208, 209; sketch, 164. 

Ganastogu6, see Tinawatawa. 

Garcitas River, La SaUe's colony on, 
317 n. 

Garnier, Charles, Jesuit martyr, 119, 
120; sketch, 119 n. 

Garreau, Father Leonard, killed, 95. 

Geese, see Wild geese. 

Genesee River, Indian village on, 287 n. 

Geneva (N. Y.), site, ISO n. 

Georgian Bay (Lake of Staring Hairs), 
16; mission on, 4, 19, 43, 95; de- 
scribed, 42-44; traversed, 205. 

Gode, a sea-bird, 74. 

Gold mines, reported, 228. 

Gossehn, Mgr. A. E., acknowledg- 
ments to, 341. 



368 



INDEX 



Grand Chute (Ooukocitiming), Fox 
River site, 150. 

Grand Eddy, in the Mississippi, 356 n. 

Grand River, of Ontario, Galinee on, 
194, 195. 

Grand River, see Ottawa River. 

Grapes, see Wild grapes. 

Gravier, Father Jacques, at Mackinac, 
311; in the Illinois, 356; letter, 340, 
342 n.; sketch, 311 n. 

Great Lakes, discovery, 3, 4, 32; ex- 
ploration of, 166; tides in, 232 n; 
see also the several lakes. 

Great Miami River, 155 n. 

Great Salt Lake, referred to, 333. 

Green Bay (Bale des Puants), 4, 12, 
149; water stagnant, 146; tides in, 
232; aboriginal name, 123 n., 142, 
232; buffalo on, 52; traverse of, 
343; route via, 7, 230-232; de- 
scribed, 344; Indians on, 23 n., 46 n., 
70, 74, 76 n., 81 n., 82, 89, 96, 147 n., 
214, 215; fur trade, 5, 46, 81; mis- 
sions on, 70, 76, 97, 141, 230; Mar- 
quette visits, 207, 262, 270; La 
Salle, 288 n.; Tonty, 295, 296; com- 
mandant, 70. 

Green Lake County (Wis.), 233 n. 

Grenadier Island, Indian name for, 174. 

Grenville Canal, on Ottawa River, 99 n. 

Griffin, built, 287; lost, 290. 

Grizzly bears, tradition of, 133, 134. 

Grollet, , deserter, 319 n. 

GrosseiUiers, Medart Chouart, sieur de, 
explorer, 5, 6, 29-65; among Huron, 
30, 55 n.; sketch, 30. 

Grundy County (111.), 350 n. 

Guignas, Father Michel, narrative, 341, 

Gulf of California (Vermillion Sea), 
route to, 168, 227, 249, 250, 333. 

Gulf of Mexico, tributaries, 225, 249; 
Marquette nears, 256; exploration 
of, 286, 307; La Salle on, 311. 

Gulf of St. Lawrence, 74 n. 

Harrisse, Henry, Notes sur la Nouvelle 
France, 209 n., 328. 

Hasinai Indians, see Cenis Indians. 

Hennepin, Father Louis, gives geo- 
graphical name, 204 n. ; explorations, 
290; rescued, 326, 331-333; in bat- 
tle, 329 n.; narrative, 283; New Dis- 
covery, 332 n.; sketch, 287 n. 



Hiens, , with La Salle, 319; kills 

his murderers, 320. 

Hodge, Frederick W., Journey of Coro- 
nado, 226 n. 

Holy Spirit Mission, see Chequamegon 
Bay. 

Honeoye (N. Y.), 182 n. 

Honniasontkeron Indians, see Shawnee 
Indians. 

Houebaton Indians, see Wahpeton In- 
dians. 

Houston County (Tex.), 312 n. 

Hudson Bay, affluents, 133, 144 n.; 
Radisson in, 31, 64; Indians see 
ships in, 48 n., 133; French traders 
in, 72, 73; Indians from, 135; Eng- 
Msh in, 326. 

Hudson Strait, 73 n. 

Hudson's Bay Company, founder of, 
31, 32. 

Huma (Ouma) Indians, Tonty among, 
308; sketch, 308 n. 

Huron Indians, Nicolet among, 11, 16; 
Radisson, 45, 46, 50; missions for, 4, 
19-25, 30, 34, 43, 95, 115, 206, 278, 
334; attacked by Iroquois, 29, 54, 
58, 59, 95; flee to Wisconsin, 48, 61, 
73, 95, 206; intertribal relations, 83, 
309; treatment of Allouez, 99; lan- 
guage, 252; sketch, 16 n. 

Huron Island, 80. 

Huronia, location, 19, 20; missiona- 
ries at, 21, 25. 

Hyroquois Indians, see Iroquois In- 
dians. 

IberviUe, Jacques Le Moyne, sieur d', 
in Hudson Bay, 72, 345 n.; in Louis- 
iana, 301 n., 317 n., 340. 

lUmouec Indians, see lUinois Indians. 

IlHnois (Islinois), Indians of, 16, 154 n.; 
Cavelier in, 320; La SaUe, 296 n.; 
Tonty, 284, 288-294, 307, 308, 321, 
353, 360. 

Illinois Historical Collections, 285. 

Illinois (Alimouec, Ilimouec, Irinon, 
IsUnois) Indians, stock, 45 n., 252 n.; 
clans, 297 n., 351 n.; habitat, 24, 
130, 257, 266, 305, 312, 338; lan- 
guage, 130, 243, 253, 356; religious 
belief, 113; intertribal relations, 81, 
83 n., 130, 158, 255, 289, 291-293, 
303; missions for, 97, 131, 229, 230, 



INDEX 



369 



261-272, 279, 311 n., 345 n., 350-353; 
Marquette among, 239-247, 257, 
261-272, 279; accompany Tonty, 
307-309; characterized, 243-247; 
sketch, 24 n. 
Illinois River, route via, 7, 225, 257, 
289, 296, 338; fort on, 8, 284, 290 n., 
350; Indians on, 243 n., 257 n.; 
branches of, 289 n., 345, 347-349; 
mouth, 302, 312, 344, 354; described, 
302, 303; St. Cosme on, 349-355; 
head of navigation, 350; ice in, 354. 
Immaculate Conception mission, 

founded, 230, 262, 269, 279. 
Indian corn, term for, 83; raised by 
Indians, 24, 123, 129, 153, 176, 180, 
234, 244, 255, 260; used on journey, 
53, 54, 174, 175, 186, 201, 229; pres- 
ent of, 178, 182, 266, 267; cache of, 
289; feast of, 300. 
Indiana, Indians in, 23 n., 154 n.; La 

Salle crosses, 290 n. 
Indians: 

Physical characteristics, 82, 233, 234; 
beardless, 45, 46, 129; head-flat- 
tening, 297; body-painting, 80, 84, 
243, 252, 316; dress, 244, 252, 255, 
299, 360; hair-dressing, 252, 255; 
ornamentation, 44, 242, 244. 
Primitive conditions, 81, 82; imple- 
ments, 81, 87, 146; food, 84, 85, 
132, 133, 145, 153, 174, 231, 242, 
255, 360; wild rice gathering, 230, 
231; fire-making, 85; cooking, 
182; agriculture, 24, 82, 123, 129, 
132, 146, 153, 176, 244, 300. 
Possessions, snow-shoes, 173; canoes, 
172, 173; horses, 316, 317, 320; 
wigwams, 132, 153f, 234, 244, 255, 
299, 315, 360; villages, 179, ISO; 
weapons, 109, 130, 132, 243, 244, 
246,315; armor, 320; fishing tools, 
150. 
Customs, welcoming ceremonies, 205, 
240, 359; travelling, 173; smok- 
ing, 180; calumet rites, 49, 74 n., 
77, 78, 85, 86, 130, 239, 240, 244, 
245, 255, 258, 288, 289, 298, 301, 
311, 316, 332, 358, 360; dances, 
77, 91, 130, 244-247; songs, 86, 90- 
92, 247, 358; feasts, 87, 90-92, 
111, 114, 128, 131, 182, 242, 300; 
cannibaUsm, 45, 133, 186; treat- 



ment of prisoners, 39, 45, 61, 90, 
183-186; slavery, 51, 241, 243, 
359; drunkenness, 183; present- 
giving, 88, 89, 109, 178, 181, 190, 
241, 359; picture-writing, 248, 
249, 355. 

Mental characteristics, 83, 88, "^123, 
146, 153, 352; courtesy, 123, 124, 
156; honesty, 359, 360; revenge, 
177. 

Family and tribal life, clan system, 
82 n.; polygamy, 113, 116, 122, 
123, 151, 153, 243, 303; treat- 
ment of women, 263; position of 
chiefs, 88, 244, 299, 300; women 
chiefs, 315, 353. 

Religion and mortuary customs, re- 
Ugion, 90, 111-114, 129-131, 134, 
246, 298, 299; sun-worship, 299, 
300, 303; temples, 315; idols, 
112, 123, 129, 204; snake-wor- 
ship, 131, 132; priests, 111, 315; 
superstitions, 73, 74, 77, 80, 105, 
113; sacrifices, 46, 75, 103, 104, 

111, 112, 125, 129-131, 134, 204, 
234, 300, 357; influence of dreams, 

112, 113, 131, 246; legends, 124, 
125, 143, 144, 349; medicine-men, 
103, 106, 113, 114, 117, 121, 127, 
244; medicine bag, 87; beUef in 
future hfe, 112, 132; mourning 
customs, 44; feast for dead, 20, 
21, 23; cremation, 124, 125. 

Intertribal relations, trade, 36 n., 46, 

47, 81, 84, 89, 243, 255. 
Relations to whites, first meet, 16, 74, 
75, 107, 151; treatment, 77, 80, 
85-88, 129, 151, 155, 179, 359; 
French goods among, 73, 87; fur- 
trade with, 5, 6, 29, 30, 34, 80; 
acquire smaU-pox from, 134 n., 
359. 
Interpreters, trained for discovery, 4, 
11, 15, 69; at peace conference, 71; 
Dutch as, 171, 181, 184, 187, 190. 
Iowa, Indians in, 76 n.; discoverers, 32; 

Marquette in, 239. 
Iowa River, Indians on, 239 n. 
Iron mines, on the Mississippi, 251. 
Irondequoit (Karontagouat) River, Ga- 
Un6e on, 177, 178 n.; Denonville'a 
expedition, 310 n. 
Iroquoian stock, 16 n., 176 n., 252 n. 



370 



INDEX 



Iroquois (Hyroquois, Iroquoit) In- 
dians, clans, 170 n., 180; habitat, 

176, 188, 287; language, 168, 171; 
Algonquian name for, 50; hunting 
party, 197, 201; canoes, 172; French 
hostilities with, 29, 31, 36-39, 44, 53- 
64, 69, 76 n., 99 n., 100 n., 134 n., 
135, 153, 227 n., 291-293, 306, 308, 
327, 343; feared by other tribes, 79, 
89, 121, 289, 305; attack Hui-on 
missions, 19, 29, 95, 119; martyr 
Jogues, 21; capture Radisson, 30, 
32, 59; defeat Foxes, 152-154; in- 
tertribal relations, 15 n., 34, 76 n., 
89, 130, 155, 190, 191, 250, 251, 304; 
expeditions against, 70, 109, 190, 
190 n., 227 n., 327; Tonty among, 
291-293, 353; war party, 304; mis- 
sions for, 175, 181, 277; mission col- 
ony, 91 n.; peace with, 71, 72, 154, 
168 n., 227 n.; sketch, 15 n. 

Iskousogos Indians, see Mascoutin In- 
dians. 

Iskoutegas Indians, see Mascoutin In- 
dians. 

Isle k la Cache, in Illinois, 349. 

Isle aux Cerfs, in Ilhnois, 348. 

Isle Royale, in Lake Superior, 136. 

Issati (Izatys) Indians, branch of 
Sioux, 330. 

Jacker, Rev. Edward, discovers Mar- 
quette's remains, 277 n. 
Jacob's-staff, astronomical instrument, 

177, 178 n. 

Jacques, accompanies Marquette, 262, 
265-267, 270, 272-275, 279. 

James II. of England, 32. 

"Jerk," prepared, 174, 175 n. 

Jesuit Relations, described, 13; au- 
thors of, 181 n.; cited, 12, 14-16, 21- 
25, 31, 55 n., 69, 97-137, 132 n., 141- 
160, 216-220, 226-247 n., 261-280, 
342 n. 

Jesuits, missions described, 13, 163, 
175, 181, 230; donnes, 30, 55 n., 190 
n.; enter Canada, 19; on Georgian 
Bay, 4, 16-25, 43, 95; at Sault Ste. 
Marie, 160, 165, 205-207, 213-220, 
334 n.; on Lake Superior, 95-137, 
224; at St. Ignace, 7, 160 n., 224, 
225, 229, 334; in Wisconsin, 81 n., 
141-160, 232, 261, 296, 344, 345 



n.; in Illinois, 311 n., 338, 340, 350- 
352; at Chicago, 346-348; at Mon- 
treal, 226; Quebec, 19, 21, 25 n., 96, 
137 n., 160 n., 168, 169, 181 n., 334 
n.; killed by Iroquois, 21, 29, 95, 
119; see also Missions. 

Jesus Island, near Montreal, 36 n. 

Jogues, Father Isaac, at Sault Ste. 
Marie, 5, 21, 24; among Petun In- 
dians, 119 n.; Iroquois mission, 175 
n.; martyrdom, 21; narrative, 22- 
25; sketch, 20. 

Jolliet, Louis, at head of Lake Ontario, 
191-194; with St. Lusson, 213-215, 
224; discovers the Mississippi, 6, 7, 
74 n.; Mississippi voyage, 221-257; 
journals lost, 225, 228; sketch, 191 n. 

Jones, Father Arthm- E., archivist, 226; 
cited, 235 n. 

Joutel, Henri, in Illinois, 311 n.; narra- 
tive, 283. 

Kadohadocho (Cadadoquis) Indians, 
intertribal relations, 312; as guides, 
313; Tonty visits, 314-316, 320; 
sketch, 312 n. 

Kakinanpol Indians, identified, 351. 

Kankakee (TeatUd) River, portage to, 
289 n.; mouth of, 349. 

Kansas, Indians in, 23 n.; Coronado, 
228 n. 

Kaoukia Indians, see Cahokia Indians. 

Kappa (Kapa) Indians, see Quapaw In- 
dians. 

Karezi Indians, Allouez hears of, 133. 

Karontagouat River, see Irondequoit 
River. 

Kaskaskia Indians, on Illinois River, 
225, 257, 262; tribe unites with, 
253 n.; chief, 351, 352; sketch, 257 n. 

Kaskaskia River, Indians on, 257 n., 
351 n. 

Kaukauna (KekaUng) Rapids, on Fox 
River, 150. 

Kekaling, see Kaukauna. 

Kente Bay, see Quints Bay. 

Keshena reservation, in Wisconsin, 76 n. 

Kettle Creek (Ontario), explorers on, 
202 n. 

Kewaunee (Wis.), site, 344 n. 

Keweenaw (Ste. Th4r6se) Bay, Me- 
nard at, 95, 106. 

Keweenaw County (Mich.), 136 n. 



INDEX 



371 



Kickapoo (Kikabou) Indians, inter- 
tribal relations, 81, 83, 351; lan- 
guage, 157; Marquette describes, 
233, 234; kiU Father Gabriel, 294; 
sketch, 157 n. 

Kikabous Indians, see Kickapoo In- 
dians. 

Kjllistinon Indians, see Christinaux In- 
dians. 

Kingston (Ontario), mission near, 171 
n.; fort at, 286 n. 

Kipikaoui River, see Root River. 

Kiristiaon Indians, see Christinaux In- 
dians. 

Kiskakon (Kiskakoumac, Ticacon) In- 
dians, Ottawa clan, 58, 121; remove 
Marquette's remains, 276. 

Kitchigamich Indians, Allouez among, 
157. 

Koroa (Coroa) Indians, Tonty meets, 
313; visit to, 320, 321; sketch, 313 n. 



La Barre, Antoine Lef^bvre, governor 
of New France, 70, 305, 306; sketch, 
305 n. 

La Belle Riviere, see Ohio River. 

Lachine (Canada), origin of term, 164. 

La Conception mission, see Immacu- 
late Conception. 

La Durantaye, OUvier Morel, sieur de, 
at Mackinac, 305; at Chicago, 307; 
on DenonviUe's expedition, 309; 
sketch, 305 n. 

La Forest, Guillaume de, with La SaUe, 
296; joins Tonty, 306, 308, 309, 311; 
fails to return, 312; sketch, 296. 

La Gasparde, on Green Bay, 262. 

Lahontan, Louis Armand, baron de, at 
Fort St. Joseph, 309 n.; New Voy- 
ages, 342 n. 

Lake Alimibegong, see Lake Nipigon. 

Lake Butte des Morts, 151 n. 

Lake Champlain, discovered, 4, 11. 

Lake County (III), 345 n. 

Lake des Chaudieres, 100. 

Lake des Puans, see Lake Winnebago. 

Lake Erie, discovered, 5, 165, 195; In- 
dians of, 16 n., 29; map of, 165; 
route to, 187, 194, 327; outlet, 188; 
portage from, 192; voyage on, 198- 
204, 287, 309, 311. 

Lake Frontenac, see Lake Ontario. 



Lake Huron, size, 43, 204, 205; basin, 
21; affluents, 288; outlet, 203, 204, 
327; islands in, 36 n.; discovered, 4, 
5, 11; route to, 208; traversed, 24, 
25, 104, 205, 230; Indians flee from, 
73, 95, 121; AUouez on, 102, 104; 
GrosseiUiers, 34; Radisson, 40, 41 n., 
47; St. Lusson, 217; English taken 
on, 309; feast for dead on shore of, 
20, 21. 

Lake Michigan (of the Illinois), size, 
143; tides in, 268; landing from, 
346; discovery of, 4, 5, 12; Indians 
on, 23 n., 24 n., 123, 128; battle on, 
152 n.; Allouez on, 143; La Salle, 
288; Marquette, 225, 230, 257, 261, 
263-265, 270, 272-274, 278; Radis- 
son, 47; St. Cosme, 338, 343-346; 
Tonty, 294. 

Lake Mille Lac, village on, 330 n. 

Lake Muskego (Wis.), 345 n. 

Lake Nipigon (Alimibegong), Indians 
on, 135; Indian legend about, 144; 
Allouez visits, 137, 141; fort on, 
327, 328. 

Lake Nipissing (Nipissinguie), 20, 41, 
102; size, 42; route via, 208; pesti- 
lence on, 331. 

Lake of the Illinois (Ilimouek), see 
Lake Michigan. 

Lake of Staring Hairs, see Georgian 
Bay. 

Lake Ontario (Frontenac), affluent, 
188; discovered, 5, 165, 174, 175; 
Indians near, 15, 188; mission on, 
163, 171 n., 189 n.; map of, 165; 
JoUiet on, 192; fort, 287 n., 327; La 
Salle, 296. 

Lake Pistakee, 345 n. 

Lake Pontchartrain, Indians on, 301 n. 

Lake St. Clair (Salt Water), voyage 
through, 204; named, 204 n. 

Lake St. Francis, on the St. Lawrence, 
174. 

Lake St. Francois, in Wisconsin, see 
Lake Winnebago. 

Lake St. Joseph, in Louisiana, 299 n. 

Lake St. Louis, in the St. Lawrence, 36, 
174. 

Lake Simcoe, 19, 296 n. 

Lake Superior (Tracy), size, 104; 
shape, 104; legend about, 144; out- 
let, 4, 5, 21, 104, 207, 224, 288; cop- 



372 



INDEX 



per in, 105, 113, 136, 191, 192; In- 
dians on, 23 n., 24 n., 73, 76 n., 95, 
105; fur trade, 5; explored, 6, 7, 31; 
AUouez on, 96, 104-107, 115, 132, 
135-137, 206; Duluth, 325, 327, 328, 
330; Marquette, 227, 276; Radis- 
son, 48 n., 51, 55 n. 

Lake Tracy, see Lake Superior. 

Lake Winnebago (des Puans, St. 
Francois), Allouez on, 151; sketch, 
151 n. 

Lake Wianipeg, sources of, 328; In- 
dians on, 24 n., 134 n. 

Lalemant, Father J6rome, Jesuit mis- 
sionary, 21, 22. 

Lanquetot (Lanctot, Liotot), , La 

Salle's murderer, 317-319; killed, 
320. 

Laon (France), native, 224. 

La Pointe, see Pointe de St. Esprit. 

La Potherie, Charles Claude le Roy, 
siem- Bacqueville de, among the Es- 
quimaux, 73; Histoire de I Amerique 
Septentrionale, 72-92; sketch, 71, 72. 

La Ribourde, Father Gabriel de, with 
Tonty, 290, 292; death, 294; cloak, 
296. 

La Rochelle, French port, 317 n., 319 n. 

La Ronciere, Charles de, Catalogue, 
209 n. 

La Salle, Robert Caveher de, in the 
Mississippi Valley, 7, 8, 80, 97, 154 
n., 281-285; joins Sulpitians, 164, 
165, 168-171, 178, 181; leaves the 
party, 192-194, 223; among the 
Iroquois, 180, 182, 183, 185, 186, 
190; ilhiess, 189, 304; relation to 
Perrot, 74; to Duluth, 233 n.; ex- 
plores lUinois, 287-290, 296 n.; re- 
turns to Fort Frontenac, 290, 291; 
at Mackinac, 296; explores the Mis- 
sissippi, 296-304; at French court, 
286, 304, 305; last expedition, 306; 
death, 311, 317-320, 340; lost col- 
ony, 312, 317 n.; characterized, 169, 
171. 

La Salle County (lU.), site in, 257 n. 

La Source, Dominic Thaumer de, mis- 
sionary, 338, 340; letter, 340, 348 n. 

Lassay, Armand de Madaillan de Les- 
parre. Marquis de, 329. 

La Toupine, Pierre Moreau dit, French 
wood-ranger, 266. 



Laval de Montmorency, Prangoig de, 
first Canadian bishop, 169, 337; let- 
ter to, 340; sketch, 169 n. 

Laval Seminary, foimded, 169 n.; ar- 
chives, 340, 341. 

La VioUette, in Illinois, 353. 

Lead mines, in Wisconsin, 236; on the 
Mississippi, 302. 

Le Borgne, Algonkin chief, 15 n. 

Le Clercq, Chrestien, Premier Stablis- 
sement de la Foy, 317 n. 

Leisler, Jacob, revolt, 309 n. 

"Le Rocher," see Starved Rock. 

Les Chats (Cat Rapids), on the Ot- 
tawa, 100. 

Le Sueur, Pierre Charles, explorer, 341. 

Lindsay, Col. Crawford, translator, 
341. 

Liotot, see Lanquetot. 

Little Lake Erie, see Long Point Bay. 

Little Miami River, 155 n. 

Little Osage River, 313 n. 

Little Traverse Bay, Indians on, 36 n. 

Liverpool (N. Y.), 175 n.i 

London (Eng.), Radisson at, 31; his 
journals, 32. 

Long Point Bay, on Lake Erie, 201 n. 

Long Sault, in the Ottawa, 59, 99; 
sketch, 99 n. 

Louis XIV., sovereign of New France, 
70, 213-220, 330 n.; French court 
of, 71; piety, 110; annexes Spain, 
224; accords amnesty, 330 n., 333. 

Louisiana, founded, 8, 284, 340; In- 
dians in, 299 n., 314 n. ; governor of, 
347 n. 

Louisiana Historical Collections, 285. 

Loup Indians, see Delaware Indians. 

L'Ours (Bear), Illinois chief, 352. 

Ludington (Mich.), site, 273 n. 

Macgregory, Patrick, captured, 309. 

Machkoutench Indians, see Mascoutin 
Indians. 

Mackinac (Missilimakinak), La Salle 
at, 288, 290; St. Cosme, 342; Tonty, 
296, 304, 306, 338; commandant, 
305; fur trade at, 309; Jesuits, 311, 
333, 334, 342 n., 346 n. 

Mackinac County (Mich.), 143 n. 

Mackinac Island, 143; Ottawa on, 36 
n.; Potawatomi, 89; Huron on, 119 
n.; legends about, 144; distance 



INDEX 



373 



from Sault Ste. Marie, 219; mission 
on, 224. 

Mackinac Straits, discovery, 4, 12; 
mission on, 7, 225, 229, 276; Allouez 
describes, 143. 

Maine, Indians of, 160 n. 

Maisoimeuve, Paul de Chomedy, sieur 
de, founder of Montreal, 34 n. 

Malhomini Indians, see Menominee In- 
dians. 

Manhattan, see New York. 

Manistique (Oulamanistik) River, lo- 
cation, 79 n. 

Manitou, use of term, 87 n., Ill, 114. 

Manitouiriniou, significance of, 16. 

Manitoulin Island, visited, 43; hunting 
on, 215; possession taken of, 218. 

Manitowoc (Wis.), mission site, 345. 

Marest (Marais), Father Gabriel, mis- 
sionary, 345, 350. 

Margry, Pierre, historian, 165, 283; 
Decouvertes et Etablissements des 
Frangais dans VAmerique Septentrio- 
nale, 166, 215, 285, 328; Relations et 
Memoir es Inedits, 285. 

Marie Movena, Potawatomi Christian, 
159. 

Marquette, Father Jacques, at Che- 
quamegon Bay, 141, 227; Sault Ste. 
Marie, 207; discovery of the Mis- 
sissippi, 7, 74 n., 221-257; second 
voyage, 97, 260-280; death, 261, 
273-276; burial, 277; journals, 225, 
226; map, 228; statue, 261; sketch, 
224, 225, 277-280. 

Marquette University, at Milwaukee, 
277 n. 

Masaniello, revolt of, 283. 

Mascoutin (Escotecke, Iskousogos, 
Mascoutechs) Indians, original habi- 
tat, 171, 192; in Wisconsin, 146, 
154 n., 233-235, 264, 345; inter- 
tribal relations, 73 n., 78, 81, 83, 84; 
Allouez among, 97, 155-158, 234 n. ; 
Perrot, 84^88, 224; Radisson, 45, 
46, 50; sketch, 45 n. 

Massachusetts Bay, settled, 12. 

Matchedash Bay, 19. 

Matouenock (Scratcher) Indians, 
Radisson among, 53. 

Maumee River, origin of name, 155 n. 

Mazaria, Cardinal Jules, French pre- 
mier, 283. 



Mazon (Massane) River, 350. 

Meat, method of curing, 174, 175. 

Mechigamia Indians, see Michigamea 
Indians. 

Melons, Indians raise, 244, 256, 

Membre, Father Zenobe (Zenoble), ac- 
companies La Salle, 283, 290 n., 296; 
with Tonty, 290 n., 292-296; sketch, 
292 n. 

Memphis (Tenn.), site near, 297 n., 
358 n. 

Menade (Manhattan), see New York. 

Menard, Father Rene, 106; death, 6, 
25, 95; sketch, 25 n. 

Menominee (Folle Avoine, Malhomini, 
Oumalouminek, Wild Rice) Indians, 
habitat, 344; language, 158; hos- 
tiUties with Iroquois, 73 n.; Allouez 
among, 145, 158; Marquette, 230, 
231; Perrot, 76, 78; at St. Lusson's 
pageant, 214; sketch, 76 n. 

Menominee (St. Michael) River, 158, 
230. 

Meskousing River, see Wisconsin River. 

Metaminens, Indian name for Perrot, 
83. 

Metouscepriniouek Indians, see Miami 
Indians. 

Mexico, Radisson mentions, 61; Tonty 
explores, 307; La Salle in, 317. 

Miami (Metouscepriniouek, Oumami) 
Indians, stock, 45, 349 n. ; language, 
130, 156; habitat, 83, 342 n., 343, 
346, 349; villages, 84 n., 97, 146, 288 
n., 305; venerate chiefs, 88; acci- 
dent to, 357; as guides, 308; inter- 
tribal relations, 81, 84, 154, 267, 306; 
Allouez among, 155-158; Marquette, 
233-235; Perrot, 71, 84-88; mission 
for, 97, 338, 346; on Denonville's 
expedition, 309; sketch, 154 n. 

Miamis River, see St. Joseph River. 

Michabous, term for Great Spirit, 90 n., 
112; legend about, 143, 144. 

Michigame Lake, see Big Lake. 

Michigamea (Mechigamia) Indians, 
habitat, 356; Marquette meets, 157 
n., 252, 253; sketch, 252 n. 

Michigan, salines of, 204 n.; 

Indians in, 23 n., 45 n.; Indians flee 
from, 95; La Salle crosses, 290 n. 

Michiliraackinak Island, see Mackinac 
Island. 



374 



INDEX 



Milouakik River, see Milwaukee River. 
Milwaukee (Wis.), Jesuit College at, 

277 n. 
Milwaukee (Milouakik) River, Indians 
at, 23 n., 345; Marquette, 264; St. 
Cosme, 345. 
Minnesota, Indians in, 23 n., 329 n., 

330 n.; discoverers of, 32, 341. 
Minot, a French measure, 196 n. 
Minqua Indians, see Andastes Indians. 
Missibizi, see Michibous. 
Missilimakinak, see Mackinac. 
Missions: 
By tribes: Christinaux, 134; Foxes, 
81 n., 151-155; Huron, 16, 19-25, 
29, 30, 34, 43 n., 95, 119-121; Il- 
linois, 97, 130-132, 230, 257, 261- 
272, 279, 311 n., 345 n., 350-353; 
Iroquois, 91, 175, 181; Mascou- 
tin, 155-158, 234 n.; Menominee, 
158, 230; Miami, 338; Nipissing, 
20, 21, 25, 135-137; Sauk, 146, 
147; Sioux, 132, 133. 
By localities: Chequamegon Bay, 6, 
96-137, 141, 224, 227, 229; Chi- 
cago, 346-348; De Pere (Wis.), 70, 
97, 142, 150 n., 232, 261, 262, 267, 
296, 344; Lake Superior, 95, 106; 
Mackinac, see St. Ignace; Quinte 
Bay, 163, 171, 189 n., 193; Sault 
Ste. Marie, 96, 135, 141, 165, 205- 
207, 213, 334 n.; Southwest, 337- 
340. 
Local names: Guardian Angel, 346- 
348; Immaculate Conception, 230, 
262, 269, 279; St. Francis Borgia, 
334 n.; St. Francis Xavier, 70, 97, 
142, 150 n., 232, 261, 262, 267, 296, 
341; St. Ignace, 7, 160 n., 224, 225, 
229, 261, 276, 277, 333, 334, 342. 
Mississippi River, first mentioned, 12, 
130, 132, 156; headwaters, 7, 24 n., 
31, 290, 326, 328; mouth, 284, 302, 
306, 311 n., 317; faUs, 349; floods in, 
321, 354; description of, 302, 322, 
339, 354; discovery of, 6, 7, 221-257, 
262, 269; Radisson's possible dis- 
covery, 32, 61 ; Perrot's, 74; explora- 
tion of, 287 n., 354r-361; informa- 
tion about, 90, 168; La SaUe ex- 
plores, 297-304, 307; Indians on, 70, 
76 n., 290, 313 n., 327, 328; posts on, 
70; route to, 344. 



Mississippi Valley, exploration of, 3, 
223, 283-285; missions for, 337-361. 

Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 
317 n. 

Missouri, Indians in, 90 n., 313 n. 

Missouri (Pekitanoui) River, Indian 
name, 248 n.; Indians on, 24 n., 249, 
361; mouth passed, 225, 247, 249, 
297; described, 355. 

Mitihikan, a fish weir, 150. 

Mobile, Tonty at, 284; Davion, 339. 

Mohawk Indians, expedition against, 
100 n., 168 n., 190. 

Mont Jolliet, in Illinois, 349. 

Montigny, Frangois JoUiet de. Semi- 
nary missionary, 8, 338-340, 342 n., 
346, 352, 353; at Chicago portage, 
348; letter, 340. 

Montreal, 91 n., 95; climate, 198; fur 
trade at, 5, 34, 62, 69, 73, 74, 206, 
331; Indians visit, 79-81, 88-92, 
163; Jesuits at, 226, 261; Sulpi- 
tians, 163, 164, 167, 169-172, 214, 
330; peace conference at, 163, 164, 
167; route to, 207, 208; Duluth at, 
325, 327; Radisson, 36, 62; Tonty, 
306, 308; sketch, 34 n. 

Montreal Historical Society, 166. 

Montreal Island, 36; seigneury on, 
164, 165. 

Moose (eland, orignal, oriniack), de- 
scribed, 51, 52, 174; kiUed, 58; used 
for food, 207. 

Moranget, Crevel de, nephew of La 
SaUe, 317; kiUed, 318. 

Mud Lake, see Portage Lake. 

MueUes, Jacques, intendant of New 
France, 334. 

Mulberries, on the Mississippi, 248, 302. 

Muy, Nicolas Daneaux, sieur de, 347. 

Myers, A. C, Narratives of Early Penn- 
sylvania, West New Jersey, and Delor- 
ware, 176 n. 



Nach6 Indians, see Natchez Indians. 
Nachicoche Indians, habitat, 314. 
Nadao (Nadaco) Indians, Tonty 

among, 314. 
Nadouessis Indians, see Sioux Indians. 
Naodiches, see Notedache. 
Nasoui Indians, habitat, 315. 
Natchez (Nach6) Indians, habitat. 



INDEX 



375 



301 n., 302, 313 n.; customs, 297 n., 
301, 313 n.; La Salle among, 301, 
303, 304; Tonty among, 314. 

Natchitoches (La.), site, 314 n. 

Natchitoches Indians, habitat, 315. 

Navasota River, in Texas, 319 n. 

Nawaskingwe, lUinois Indian, 263, 266. 

Neches River, in Texas, 312 n., 314 n. 

New France, see Canada. 

New Mexico, route to, 227; explored, 
228 n. 

New Netherland Narratives, 21. 

New Orleans, capital of Louisiana, 8, 
301 n., 339. 

New Sweden, Indians of, 176. 

New York, Jesuits in, 21; expeditions 
in, 168 n.; GaUnee's party in, 177- 
188; Dutch in, 331. 

New York City (Menade), Tonty plans 
to sail to, 307. 

New York Colonial Documents, 215. 

Nez Percys Indians, see Ottawa In- 
dians. 

Niagara Falls, first approach to, 5, 165, 
170; described, 188, 189; portage of, 
192; shipyard near, 287. 

Niagara River, described, 188; ship- 
yard on, 287; Griffin to return to, 
288, 290; fort on, 309, 310; portage 
on, 311. 

Nicolet, Jean, voyage of discovery, 4, 
11-16, 223; traditions of, 30. 

Nicondich^, see Notedache. 

Nipigon River, 135 n.; Allouez on, 136. 

Nipissing (Nipissiriniens) Indians, 
Nicolet among, 15, 16; mission for, 
20, 21, 25, 135-137; flee to Lake 
Nipigon, 135-137; DoUier among, 
167; pestilence among, 331; sketch, 
15 n. 

Nipissirinien Indians, see Nipissing In- 
dians. 

Nitarikyk, Nipissing chief, 167. 

Noquet Bay, 344. 

Noquet (Noquest) Indians, habitat, 
344. 

Norfolk County (Ontario), explorers in, 
200 n. 

Normans, in Canada, 19, 164. 

Notedache (Naodiches, Nicondich6), 
Cenis village, 312, 315, 316; La 
Salle in, 319. 

Nottawasaga Bay, 19. 



Nottawasaga township, in Ontario, 

119 n. 
Nouvel, Father Henri, at Mackinac, 

277, 334; sketch, 334 n. 
Nymwegen, treaty at, 284. 



Oak, openings, in New York, 180; 
trees on the Wisconsin, 236. 

Oconto River, mission on, 146 n. 

Octanac Indians, see Ottawa Indians. 

Ogdensburgh (New York), site, 174 n. 

Ohio, Indians in, 90 n., 155 n. 

Ohio (Ouabache) River, 24 n.; origin 
of name, 168; Indians of, 168, 169, 
181 n., 191, 206, 254 n.; reports of, 
169-171, 186; discovered, 225; de- 
scribed, 250, 251, 357; La Salle 
passes, 297, 304; St. Cosme passes, 
357. 

Oklahoma, Indians in, 23 n., 90 n. 

Onondaga Indians, mission for, 175, 
181; chief of, 291. 

Onondaga Lake, mission on, 175 n. 

Onontio, title of Canadian governor, 
78, 219; treatment of Indians, 80; al- 
Ues of, 89; messengers of, 100, 181; 
fear of, 187. 

Ontario (Can.), Indians in, 15 n., 23 n., 
119 n.; explorers, 165, 195 n., 196 n., 
197-204, 290 n.; missions, 4, 19. 

Ontario County (N. Y.), Indian vil- 
lage in, 179 n.; spring in, 182 n. 

Ontario (Can.) Historical Society, 196; 
Papers and Records, 166, 209 n. 

Ontonagannhas Indians, see Shawnee 
Indians. 

Ooukocitiming, see Grand Chute. 

Openagos Indians, sketch, 331 n. 

Orignal, term for moose, 52 n., 174; 
see also Moose. 

Oriniack, see Moose. 

Orleans Island, raided by Iroquois, 29. 

Osage Indians, intertribal relations, 
313,315,361; sketch, 313 n. 

Oshkosh (Wis.), site, 151 n. 

Osotouy, Quapaw village, 298, 313. 

Oswegatchie River, mouth of, 174 n. 

Otondiata, see Grenadier Island. 

Ottawa (Can.), site, 100 n.; ParUa- 
mentary Ubrary at, 209. 

Ottawa country, origin of term, 121; 
tribes of, 228; missionaries in, 274, 



376 



INDEX 



278; council of tribesmen, 109, 110; 
journey to, 98-104, 207. 

Ottawa (Nez Perces, Octanac, Outa- 
ouak) Indians, clans of, 121, 167; 
name used generically, 73 n., 193, 
203,207; language, 184; habitat, 43, 
121, 342; in fur trade, 36, 89, 191, 
192,206; at Montreal, 170; customs, 
44, 111-114, 122; relations with Iro- 
quois, 58, 63, 64, 73, 191, 192; as 
guide, 190; as slaves, 309; accident 
to, 102; missions for, 205-207, 227; 
flee to Wisconsin, 61, 96, 108, 121; 
transport Marquette's remains, 261, 
276, 277; on DenonviUe's expedi- 
tion, 310; Radisson among, 43-47, 
51; Tonty, 296; sketch, 36 n. 

Ottawa (Grand) River, rapids in, 57 n., 
60, 61, 99, 100, 207, 208; Indians on, 
11, 15 n., 121; Radisson, 37-42, 57- 
61; hostilities on, 95; route via, 98- 
102, 208. 

Otters, in Lake Nipissing, 41 ; as food, 42. 

Ouabache River, see Ohio River. 

Ouaboukigou River, see Wabash River. 

Ouasita Indians, habitat, 314. 

Ouestatinong, Fox Indian village, 146. 

Ouiskonsin River, see Wisconsin River. 

OulamanistLk River, see Manistique 
River. 

Oimia Indians, see Himaa Indians. 

Oumalouminek Indians, see Menomi- 
nee Indians. 

Oumami Indians, see Miami Indians. 

Ousaki Indians, see Sauk Indians. 

Outagami County (Wis.), 81 n. 

Outagami Indians, see Fox Indians. 

Outaouak Indians, see Ottawa Indians. 

Outchibouec Indians, see Chippewa In- 
dians. 

Ovenibigoutz Indians, see Winnebago 
Indians. 

Oysters, in Gulf of Mexico, 307. 

Pacific Ocean (South Sea), described, 
90; route to, 168; as a boundary, 
217. 

Panoestigon Indians, Radisson speaks 
of, 58, 59. 

Paris, Jesuits at, 20; Sulpitians, 163, 
165; Missions fitrangeres, 337; 
BibliothSque Nationale, 165, 166, 
285; archives at, 209 n., 328. 



Parkman, Francis, 166, 341; La Salle, 
209 n.; The Old Regime, 99 n. 

Paroquets, seen by Marquette, 252, 
257. 

Partridges, Marquette describes, 265, 
268. 

Patterson's Creek (Ontario), 196 n., 
197. 

Pauoitigoueieuhak Indians, significance 
of, 23 n. 

Peaches, see Wild peaches. 

Peangichias Indians, see Piankeshaw 
Indians. 

Pearls, among the Indians, 300; found 
in the Mississippi, 322. 

Pekitanoui River, see Missouri River. 

Pelicans, described, 49, 357, 358. 

Pensaukee River, village on, 146 n. 

Peoria (Peouarea) Indians, habitat, 
243; baptized, 257. 

Peoria (Permataoui, Pimetoui) Lake, 
fort on, 350, 354; ice in, 351. 

Peouarea Indians, see Peoria Indians. 

Pepys, Samuel, owns Radisson jour- 
nals, 32. 

Pere Marquette River, site, 261, 273 n. 

P^rigueux (France), 346 n. 

Permataoui Lake, see Peoria Lake. 

Perrot, Nicolas, fur trader, 5, 6, 69-72, 
96, 147 n., 224; Indian name, 83; 
speeches, 77, 78, 86, 87; explora- 
tions, 73-92; at pageant, 213-215; 
on DenonviUe's expedition, 321; 
knowledge of the Mississippi, 223; 
gives ostensorimn to mission, 70; 
returns to Montreal, 90-92; jour- 
nals, 71-72; Mimoire, 71, 215; 
sketch, 69-71. 

Perry County (Mo.), 356 n. 

Persimmons, on the Mississippi, 248. 

Peru, Spanish in, 73. 

Peshtigo (Wis.), Indian village at, 
146 n. 

Pesioui River, see Fox River (111.). 

Pestekouy River, see Fox River (lU.). 

Petun Huron (Tionnontateheronnon, 
Tobacco) Indians, missions for, 20, 
119-121; sketch, 119 n. 

Piankeshaw (Peangichias) Indians, 
habitat, 349. 

Piasa, Marquette passes, 248, 249; St. 
Cosme mentions, 355. 

Pichou du sud, see Wildcat. 



INDEX 



377 



Pierson (Piergon), Father Philippe, at 
Mackinac, 277, 334; sketch, 334 n. 

Pigeons, see Wild pigeons. 

Pijart, Father Claude, Jesuit mis- 
sionary, 25. 

Pimetoui Lake, see Peoria Lake. 

Pine-trees, on the Mississippi, 356. 

Pinet, Father Pierre Francois, at Chi- 
cago, 346, 347; in lUinois, 348, 350- 
352; sketch, 346 n. 

Pisikiou, word for buffalo, 238. 

Plums, see Wild plums. 

Point Detour, on Green Bay, 343. 

Point Pelee, on Lake Erie, 202 n. 

Point Sable, on Green Bay, 147 n. 

Pointe aux Iroquois, see St. Ignace. 

Pointe de St. Esprit, mission of, 115- 
121, 141, 146, 149, 159, 206, 224, 227, 
229, 276. 

Poissons-blancs Indians, see Attikamd- 
gue Indians. 

Polyodon spatula, in the Mississippi, 
237. 

Pontchartrain, Coimt de, 285. 

Poplar-trees, on the Mississippi, 302. 

Porpoise, in Gulf of Mexico, 307. 

Port Dover (Ontario), winter station, 
165, 196 n. 

Portage (Wis.), 7, 235 n. 

Portage (Mud) Lake, at Chicago, 

' 347. 

Portages: Bois Brule to St. Croix, 331; 
Chicago to Des Plaines, 7, 225, 257, 
347, 348; on Des Plaines, 349; on 
Fox River, 150; Fox to Wisconsin, 
7, 235; on the Ottawa, 42, 57, 59; 
Root to Fox (Illinois), 345; Sturgeon 
Bay, 262, 263. 

Porteret, Pierre, accompanies Mar- 
quette, 262-265, 267, 270, 272-275, 
279. 

Potawatomi (Pouteatami, Poux) In- 
dians, clans, 82; habitat, 123, 147 n., 
192, 198, 262, 263, 265, 267, 294-296, 
344, 345; refuge at the Sault, 23; on 
Chequamegon Bay, 122-128; lan- 
guage, 123; quaUties, 128, 149; in- 
tertribal relations, 73 n., 77, 81, 84, 
88, 89; Allouez among, 142, 145, 
146 n., 147-149, 158; La SaUe, 288; 
Perrot, 70, 74, 78, 82, 83, 88, 147 n.; 
Radisson, 45, 53, 74 n.; at St. Lus- 
son's pageant, 214; on Denonville's 



expedition, 310; visit Montreal, 79, 
80, 89, 92; sketch, 23 n. 

Pottery, made by Indians, 46, 84, 360. 

Pouteatami Indians, see Potawatomi 
Indians. 

Prairie du Chien (Wis.), Marquette 
monument at, 236 n. 

Prairie Indians, see Mascoutin Indians. 

Prairie River, at Montreal, 36, 98. 

Presqu'isle, see Erie (Pa.). 

Prince Society, pubUsh Radisson's jour- 
nals, 32, 33. 

Prud'homme, Pierre, with La Salle, 
297, 298. 

Puant Indians, see Winnebago Indians. 

Pumpkins (Citruelles), raised by In- 
dians, 61, 62, 360; given as presents, 
267. 



Quaife, Milo M., acknowledgments to, 
341; Chicago and the Old Northwest, 
346 n. 

Quanouatino Indians, hostiUties with, 
316, 319. 

Quapaw (Acansgas, Akensea, Arkan- 
sas, Cappa, Kappa) Indians, village 
site, 358; French among, 312, 350; 
La Salle, 298, 304; Marquette, 254- 
256; St. Cosme, 339, 358-361; 
Tonty, 308, 313; visit Tonty, 311; 
sketch, 254 n. 

Quebec, founded, 4, 11; capital of 
Canada, 8, 12, 35, 151 n., 165; mis- 
sionaries at, 19, 21, 25 n., 96, 137 n., 
160 n., 168, 169, 181 n., 334 n.; Iro- 
quois raids near, 29; fur traders at, 
63; bishop of, 169 n., 337, 340; 
Tonty at, 286. 

Queylus, Gabriel, abbe de, head of Sul- 
pitians, 167, 168, 208; sketch, 167. 

Quinipissa (Acolapissa) Indians, La 
Salle among, 301, 303, 304; Tonty, 
308; sketch, 301 n. 

Quint6 (Kente) Bay, mission on, 171, 
189 n., 193. 

Quivira, New Mexican kingdom, 228. 



Racine (Wis.), site, 345. 
Radisson, Marguerite, married, 30. 
Radisson, Pierre Esprit, sieur, explorer, 
5, 6, 29-65, 223; date of third voy- 



378 



INDEX 



age, 31; manuscript joumala, 31, 32; 

speech, 55, 56, 60; sketch, 30, 31. 
Rassade, term defined, 87 n. 
Rattlesnakes, among the Illinois, 131; 

frighten La Salle, 189, 190; de- 
scribed, 190. 
Rawlinson, Richard, manuscript col- 
lector, 32. 
Raymbault, Father Charles, at Sault 

Ste. Marie, 5, 21, 24; narrative, 22- 

25; death, 15, 21; sketch, 19-20. 
Recollect missionaries, in Canada, 19, 

290, 292, 293, 331, 337; accompany 

La SaUe, 311, 317, 326. 
Red River, origin of name, 316; La 

Salle passes, 301; Indians on, 312 n., 

315; Tonty, 314-316. 
Red River of the North, 284. 
Renaudot collection, in Bibliothfeque 

Nationale, 165, 166. 
Rice, see Wild rice. 
RicheUeu River, explored, 4, 11. 
Rock River, Indians on, 81 n. 
Roebuck, hunted, 188; drowned, 189; 

killed, 191. 
Roinsac, see Rouensa. 
Root (Kipikaoui) River, St. Cosme at, 

338, 345, 346. 
Rouen (France), Jesuits at, 19, 20; 

explores from, 164, 311 n. 
Rouensa (Roinsac, Rouensas), Kaskas- 

kia chief, 351, 352. 
Ruter, , deserter, 319 n. 



Sabine River, 314 n. 
Sacques Indians, see Sauk Indians. 
Sagamit6, described, 174, 242, 255. 
Saguenay River, fur-trade on, 35; 

Jesuit mission, 134 n. 
St. Andrew's day, 110. 
St. Anthony Falls, named, 287 n. 
St. Catherine's Creek, in Mississippi, 

301 n. 
St. Charles Parish, in Louisiana, 301 n. 
St. Clair River, discovered, 5, 204; 

fort on, 327, 328. 
St. Cosme, Jean Frangois Buisson de. 

Seminary missionary, 8, 338-341; 

narrative, 342-361; death, 340. 
St. Esprit mission, see Pointe de St. 

Esprit. 
St. Francis Borgia, mission of, 334. 



St. Francis River (Ark.), Indians on, 
253 n. 

St. Francis River (Wis.), see Fox River. 

St. Frangois Xavier, feast day, 142 n., 
145, 354; patron saint, 143; Mar- 
quette hkened to, 274, 278. 

St. Frangois Xavier, mission at De Pere 
(Wis.), 97; founded, 142, 150 n., 
296 n., 344; success of, 232; burned, 
70; Marquette visits, 261, 267; let- 
ter for, 267. 

St. Germain, treaty of, 11. 

St. Germain-en-Laye, Duluth's birth- 
place, 325; convent at, 331. 

St. Ignace (Pointe aux Iroquois), 342; 
mission at, 7, 160 n., 224, 229, 261, 
334; built, 225, 229 n.; Marquette's 
remains at, 276, 277; map of, 342 n. 

St. Jean Baptiste, mission for Iroquois, 
175 n. 

St. Joseph-Kankakee portage, 289. 

St. Joseph River, Miami on, 97, 154 n., 
288 n.; La Salle, 288, 289, 296; 
French, 305; Vincennes, 342, 345. 

St. Lawrence River, size, 189; sources, 
5, 188; explored, 4, 11; seat of 
French power, 8, 13; war parties on, 
29; route via, 37 n., 171, 172, 174, 
175; fiu--trade on, 69; Indian mis- 
sions on, 91 n., 96, 160 n., 181 n., 
189 n. 

St. Louis (Mo.), 351 n. 

St. Louis Rapids, in the St. Lawrence, 
171, 172. 

St. Louis River, route via, 24 n. 

St. Lusson, Simon Frangois Daumont, 
sieur de, pageant, 6, 97, 213-220, 
223, 266 n.; escort, 70; sketch, 213. 

St. Mark, feast day, 155 n. 

St. Mark mission, 81 n., 151-155. 

St. Mary's College, at Montreal, 226, 
229 n., 261. 

St. Maurice River, 16, 29, 134 n. 

St. Michael mission, 158, 230. 

St. Sulpice, order founded, 163; semi- 
nary at Montreal, 163-165, 167 n.; 
see also Sulpitians. 

Ste. Claire, feast day, 204 n. 

Ste. Marie, Huron mission, 19, 23; 
built, 20. 

Ste. Marie, Onondaga mission, 175 n. 

Ste. Therdse, fete day, 106. 

Ste. Th^rese Bay, see Keweenaw Bay. 



INDEX 



379 



Saki Indians, see Sauk Indians. 

Salt, obtained in Louisiana, 314; from 
the West, 333. 

Salt Bay, see Green Bay. 

San Pedro Creek, 312 n. 

Sanson d' Abbeville, Nicolas, map of, 
204. 

Saskatchewan River, French on, 12. 

Sauk City (Wis.), 81 n. 

Sauk (Ousaki, Sacques, Saki) Indians, 
habitat, 150, 344; migratory, 129; 
language, 128, 153, 157; hunting 
party, 81; in fur trade, 35; inter- 
tribal relations, 73, 82, 83, 90, 120; 
hostUe to whites, 129; Allouez 
among, 145, 146 n., 147; at St. Lua- 
son's pageant, 244; sketch, 81 n. 

Sault St. Louis, Indian mission on, 91 
n. ; JoUiet wrecked in, 228. 

Sault Ste. Marie, Indian legend of, 144; 
discovered, 4, 5, 21-25; pageant at, 
6, 70, 97, 213-220, 266 n.; described, 
50, 104, 207; fur-trade fleet at, 92, 
96, 203; mission at, 96, 135, 141, 142, 
160, 165, 205-207, 334; DoUier and 
Galinee at, 165, 205; Tonty at, 
288. 

Saulteur Indians, see Chippewa In- 
dians. 

Sauteux Indians, see Chippewa In- 
dians. 

Scratcher Indians, see Matouenock In- 
dians. 

Scull, Gideon D., editor, 32. 

Seignelay, Jean Baptists Colbert, mar- 
quis de, 286, 329. 

Seminary priests, see Soci6t6 des Mis- 
sions fitranglres. 

Seneca (Sonnontouan, Tsonnontouan) 
Indians, of Iroquois league, 152; in- 
formation from, 164, 165, 170, 171; 
villages, 176, 179, 180, 287, 357; 
population, 180; intertribal rela- 
tions, 176; treatment of others, 180- 
188; relation to whites, 176, 177, 
291; expedition against, 310; sketch, 
170 n. 

Seneff, battle at, 325; date of, 329 n. 

Severn River, 19. 

Shawnee (Chiouanon, Chaouanon, 
Honniasontkeronon, Ontonagann- 
has, Shawanon, Touquenha) Indians, 
first mention of, 170, 171; intertribal 



relations, 89, 90, 250, 251, 351, 353, 
355; habitat, 181 n., 187, 192, 250, 
305, 357; torture prisoner, 183-186; 
as guides, 190, 193, 195, 307, 312, 
313, 316-318, 320; on Denonville's 
expeditions, 308; sketch, 89 n., 170 n. 

Shawnee River, see Cumberland River. 

Shea, John Gilmary, A Description of 
Louisiana by Father Louis Hennepin, 
328; Early Voyages on the Missis- 
sippi, 340, 341, 348 n.; History of 
the Discovery of the Mississippi, 13, 
226; "Indian Tribes in Wisconsin," 
14. 

Sheboygan River (Wis.), Marquette 
at, 263. 

Shreveport (La.), site, 314 n. 

SUlery, a mission colony, 137. 

Simcoe County, Ontario, Indians in, 
119 n. 

Sinago (Outaouasinagouc) Indians, Ot- 
tawa clan, 121. 

Siouan stock, see Dakotan stock. 

Sioux (Nadouessis), Nadouessioux In- 
dians, name for, 50; clans of, 330; 
offshoot of, 134 n.; habitat, 7, 24, 46, 
132, 290 n., 330; language, 48 n., 
132; relations to buffalo, 52; inter- 
tribal relations, 50, 51, 58, 130, 132, 
155, 262, 344; fear of, 151, 262, 279; 
Allouez among, 132; Duluth, 323, 
326-329, 332, 333; Hennepin, 287 n., 
290 n., 331, 332; Radisson, 48; 
coimtry annexed, 70; fort among, 
341; mission for, 334 n.; peace with, 
109; sketch, 24 n. 

Slavery, among the Indians, 51, 241, 
243, 292, 359. 

Smallpox, among the Indians, 331. 

Snake-root, mentioned by Marquette, 
233. 

Snowshoes, used by Radisson, 53; de- 
scribed, 173. 

Soci6te des Missions fitrang^res, 
founded, 337; missionaries, 338-361; 
director, 340. 

Songaskiton Indians, Siouan tribe, 330. 

Sonontouan Indians, see Seneca In- 
dians. 

South Bend (Ind.), 289 n. 

South Sea, see Pacific Ocean. 

Spanish, in Peru, 73 n.; in North 
America, 224; Radisson refers to, 



3S0 



INDEX 



48; explorations, 228 n.; [^travellers 
fear, 256; Indians hostile to, 312, 
316; horses obtained from, 316, 317. 

Spring (burning) in New York, 182, 
183; salt, 232; near Mascoutin vil- 
lage, 233. 

Squash, raised by Indians, 176, 244; 
present of, 178, 182. 

Starved Rock (Le Rocher), fort on, 
290 n., 350 n. 

Stoddard, Amos, mentioned, 249 n. 

Sturgeon, in Lake Huron, 43, 207; de- 
scribed, 49; fisheries, 79, 136, 150; 
feast of, 80. 

Sturgeon Bay (Wis.), Marquette at, 
225, 262, 263; Tonty, 295. 

Sturgeon Creek (Wis.), Tonty on, 295. 

Sulpitians, as explorers, 5, 163-209, 
311 n.; at Montreal, 163, 164, 167; 
missions, 163, 171, 189 n., 193, 337. 

Suite, Benjamin, historian, 14. 

Summer Island, in Green Bay, 343 n. 

Sun-dial, found on Green Bay, 149 n. 

Susquehanna River, Indians of, 176 n. 

Susquehannock Indians, see Andastes 
Indians. 

Swans, see Wild swans. 

Syracuse (N. Y.), 175 n. 



Tadoussac, Indians at, 134; fur-trade 

35; missions, 160 n. 
Taensa Indians, habitat, 298, 304; 

customs, 299, 300, 313 n.; Tonty 

among, 313, 314; mission for, 339; 

sketch, 298 n. 
Tailhan, Rev. Jules, edits Perrot's 

Memoir e, 71. 
Talon, Jean, intendant of New France, 

213, 215, 217, 227, 229. 
Tamarois (Tamaroas) Indians, habitat, 

297; Tonty among, 304; mission for, 

340, 346 n.; St. Cosme among, 355, 

356; sketch, 297 n. 
Tangipahoa (Tangibao) Indians, La 

SaUe among, 301. 
Teatiki River, see Kankakee River. 
Tecimiseh, Shawnee chief, 90 n. 
Tegancouti, Seneca chief, 291. 
Tennessee, Indians of, 90 n. 

Tessier, , in Illinois, 311. 

Teton Sioux, mentioned, 48 n. 
Texarkana (La.), site, 312 n. 



Texas, La Salle's colony in, 292 n., 312 
n., 317-319; site, 317 n. 

Texas Historical Quarterly, 312. 

Teyagon, Indian village, 296. 

Thaumer de la Source, see La Source. 

Theguaio, see Tiguex. 

Theriac, a remedy, 107. 

Thevenot, Melchis6dec, Recueil de 
Voyages, 226. 

Three Rivers (Que.), fur-trade at, 5, 29, 
30, 42 n.; explorers dwell at, 12, 16, 
30, 31, 34, 62; missionaries, 20, 97; 
Iroquois threaten, 63; sketch, 16 n. 

Thwaites, Reuben G., editor of Jesuit 
Relations, 13, 97, 216, 226, 261, 332 
n., 341; Lahontan's New Voyages, 
342 n.; "The Story of Mackinac," 
229 n. 

Ticacon Indians, see Kiskakon In- 
dians. 

Tiguex (Theguaio), pueblo, 228 n. 

TiUy, Sieur de Beauvais de, on Denon- 
ville's expedition, 309. 

Tinawatawa (Ganastogu^), Iroquois 
viUage, 188, 189, 191; JoUietat, 191- 
193; La Salle leaves, 194. 

Tionnontateheronnon Indians, see 
Petun Huron. 

Tiret, Illinois chief, 342. 

Tobacco, Indians desire, 266. 

Tobacco Indians, see Petun Huron In- 
dians. 

Tongengan, Quapaw viUage, 298, 313. 

Tonica Indians, mission for, 339. 

Tonti, Lorenzo, Itahan banker, 283. 

Tonty, Henri de, explorations, 7, 8, 
281-322; among the Iroquois, 291- 
293, 353; founds post, 308 n., 393 n.; 
at Fort St. Louis, 97, 284, 296 n., 
339, 350; promoted, 306; plans to 
sail to New York, 307; cousin, 325; 
on Denonville's expedition; with St. 
Cosme, 338, 339, 342, 343, 348, 349, 
351-353, 355, 358, 359; returns, 360; 
characterized, 343, 351, 353; sketch, 
283-285. 

Toriman, Quapaw viUage, 298, 313. 

Toronto portage. La SaUe at, 296 n. 

Touquenha Indians, see Shawnee In- 
dians. 

Tracy, Alexandre de Prouville, mar- 
quis de, governor of Canada, 100; 
lake named for, 104; presents for 



INDEX 



381 



Indians, 109; war with Iroquois, 109, 
190 n.; sketch, 100 n. 

Tripe des roches, eaten, 40, 41 n., 101. 

Trois Riviferes, see Three Rivers. 

Trouvd, Claude, Sulpitian missionary, 
171 n., 189, 193; sketch, 189 n. 

Tsonnontouan Indians, see Seneca In- 
dians. 

Turenne, Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, 
vicomte de, French general, 163. 

Turkeys, see Wild turkeys. 

Tuscarora Indians, of Iroquois stock, 
252 n. 



Upper St. Croix Lake, portage to, 331. 
Utica (111.), Indian village near, 257 n.; 
site near, 290 n. 

Valrenne, Clement de, French captain, 
311. 

Vermillion Sea, see Gulf of California. 

Vexilla Regis, Latin hymn, 218. 

Victor (N. Y.), site, 179 n., 310 n. 

Victoria County (Texas), La Salle's 
colony in, 317 n. 

Vimont, Father Barth^lemy, Jesuit 
missionary, 14. 

Vincennes (Ind.), foimded, 342 n.; In- 
dians near, 349 n. 

Vincennes, Jean Baptiste Bissot, sieur 
de, with St. Cosme, 342, 345; sketch, 
342 n. 

Virginia, location, 130, 169. 

Wabash (Ouaboukigou, Waboukigou) 
River, Indians on, 45 n., 157 n., 349 
n. ; named for the Ohio, 250 n., 297 n. 

Waboukigou River, see Wabash River. 

Wahpeton (Houetbaton) Indians, Siou- 
an tribe, 330. 

Walnuts, in Ontario, 196; trees on the 
Wisconsin, 236. 

Wampum, described, 47; French term 
for, 78 n., 87 n., 291; uses of, 182, 
190, 193, 291 n., 293, 352 n. 

Washington (D. C), Marquette's 
statue at, 261. 

Waukesha County (Wis.), 345 n. 

Waupaca County (Wis.), 81 n. 

West Indies, La Salle in, 319 n. ; French 
possessions, 322. 



Westover (Ontario), site, 189 n. 

Whitefish, in Sault Ste. Marie, 207, 

Whittlesey's Creek, on Chequamegon 
Bay, 115 n. 

Wild apples, on Fox River, 150; in On- 
tario, 196; on the Mississippi, 298. 

Wildcats {pichou du svd), Marquette 
sees, 237, 257; kills, 263. 

Wild geese, on lUinois River, 269. 

Wild grapes, in Ontario, 196; in Wis- 
consin, 234; on the Mississippi, 298. 

Wild oxen, see Buffalo. 

Wild peaches, on the Mississippi, 
298. 

Wild pigeons, at Chicago, 268. 

Wild plums, in Ontario, 196; in Wis- 
consin, 234; on the Mississippi, 252, 
298. 

Wild rice (oats, zizania aquatica), as 
Indian food, 76 n., 132, 134, 231; 
food for birds, 232; in Wisconsin 
rivers, 151, 235; description of, 230, 
231; sketch, 231 n. 

Wild swans, on the Mississippi, 237; 
on the lUinois, 257, 354. 

Wild turkeys, 49; at Chicago, 265; on 
Illinois River, 266, 349; on Missis- 
sippi River, 298, 354; in Wisconsin, 
264. 

Winnebago (Ovenibigoutz, Puans, Pu- 
ant) Indians, habitat, 46 n. ; discov- 
ery of, 12, 16; language, 159; in- 
tertribal relations, 76, 77, 83 n., 158; 
Allouez among, 159; at St. Lusson's 
pageant, 214; sketch, 16 n. 

Wisconsin, Indians of, 16 n., 23 n., 45 
n., 76 n., 288 n., 329 n.; Indians flee 
to, 36 n., 95, 119 n., 154 n.; lead 
mines in, 70; first white man visits, 
4, 12, 16; Allouez, 140-160; French 
governor, 70; Perrot, 70, 72, 76-92; 
missionaries in, 96; erects statue to 
Marquette, 261. 

Wisconsin Historical Collections, 14, 
115 n., 215, 229 n., 330 n., 331 n., 
333 n., 347 n.; Proceedings, 229 n., 
233 n., 235 n. 

Wisconsin Historical Society, Perrot's 
ostensorium in, 70; manuscript in, 
341. 

Wisconsin (Meskousing, Ouiskonsin) 
River, route via, 344; headwaters, 6; 
expedition on, 7; Indian village on, 



382 



INDEX 



81 n.; Mdnard lost on, 96; Mar- 
quette on, 235, 236. 

Wolf River (Riviere k Margot) (Tenn.), 
358. 

Wolf River (Wis.), Indian village on, 
81 n., 151 n. 

Wolves, on the Mississippi, 302. 

Wyandot Indians, ancestors, 20, 119 n. 

Wye River, mission on, 19. 



Yankton Sioux Indians, offshoot from, 

134 n. 
Yatasi (Yatach6) Indians, habitat, 314. 
Yazoo Indians, tribe unites with, 313 n. 
Yazoo River, Indians on, 313 n. 



Z^nobe, Father, see Membr6. 
Zizania aguatica, see Wild ric€k> 



